Author: AJ Pearce
Publication Information: Scribner. 2023. 320 pages.
ISBN: 1668007711 / 978-1668007716
Rating: ★★★
Book Source: I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.
Opening Sentence: "Margaret and I had been tap-dancing in the garden for nearly twenty minutes, and I was beginning to feel the strain."
Favorite Quote: "We can only do our best .. and leave it at work when we go home."
Mrs. Porter Calling is the third book in the series, The Emmy Lake Chronicles. The series chronicles the story of a young woman - one who wants to be a journalist and a war correspondent - in World War II London. The books find a balance of the grim story of war and of the feel good story of a group of friends who are like family and the joy and comfort they find in each other even in dark time.
Dear Mrs. Bird brings Emmy, with her dreams of being a journalist, to a job at a magazine as a typist for a women's advice column. Emmy manages to find a way to put her own spin on her job. Yours Cheerfully takes an even more serious tone as it explores the role of women in the wartime effort and the gender discrimination and expectations they face. it explores the challenges they face and the resilience of these women to create change.
This book brings the story back to that of the magazine at which Emmy works. The magazine is changing ownership, and with that comes change. Journalistic integrity and the whole premise of the magazine and its audience is at risk.
Emmy and her friends are in a race against time to save the magazine and its mission. "You can have all the fancy vision in the world, but it's the readers who matter. Muck them about and there won't be a Woman's Friend."
Although each of these books can stand alone, reading the series as a series provides necessary background and shows the progression of the characters. Without having read the first two books, I am not sure I would have "gotten" all the characters or relationships.
Of the three books, this one is the least about the wartime London setting. In fact, I feel that the book could have been set anywhere in time and place. This book is about business world and about the people passionate about an institution trying to save it from those who seek change for the sake of change and who would destroy something special in the process. Given the 1940s London setting, this book and the conflict also becomes about the British class structure.
Given the tone and tenor of all three books, I suspect going in how the book will end. It delivers that sweet story, but I would have appreciated something unexpected and unpredictable.
Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.
