Winter on the Mersey

The book is set during World War II and features two families who live on the Mersey, the Callaghans and the Feeneys. Inevitably some of them go away to serve their country elsewhere and not all of them come back. Kitty is the star of this book and she is a WREN who is posted back to Merseyside from London. The book follows the lives, romances, heartaches, joys, betrayals and loyalties of the characters. In the face of adversity everybody ploughs on and remains largely cheerful.

There was an awful lot to like about this book. Firstly, the author is wonderful at creating characters that are believable. I could identify with a lot of the emotions that they were going through and really wanted them to come out the other side in one piece. Having characters that are endearing always helps me to enjoy a book more as I care what happens to the people and almost wait with baited breath to discover the outcome of the particular situations in which they have become embroiled. Annie Groves has mastered this technique. Also, it is an easy read and is totally gripping from beginning to end. In addition, it has some harrowing moments but is not devoid of suspense. All in all it contains pretty much all of the ingredients for a good book.
Apparently this book is the end of a series which feature the Callaghan and the Feeney families. I have not read any of the previous ones and did not even realise that it was part of a series until after I had finished it. It works perfectly well as a stand-alone book so well done to the author for achieving that.

The only comment that I can make about the book that might in any way be construed as being negative is that it is hardly deep and meaningful. But I don’t think it is any the worse for that as it is not intended to make you think, just to feel. And it achieves that. I felt for all the people in the book (with odd exceptions) and loved it all the more for making achieving that emotional connection.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book with great characters and a great storyline. I have never read a book by Annie Groves before but if I have the opportunity to read another one I will certainly do so. The book is not challenging or difficult but has a wonderful feel-good aspect to it.

This book read well and the characters were believable. I did, however, find the book over long and found I was struggling to finish it. Three young women train together yet their war time experiences differ greatly. This book showed that, whatever your background or education, war required the whole nation to be mobilised. Here we see the important role played by people who had skills that were valuable in a country at war. For them, war was an opportunity to shine.