Dear Mrs Bird: 05/12/18

Dear Mrs Bird by A. J. Pearce is set in in London in 1940. Emmeline Lake is doing her part for the war effort. She's AFS, volunteering her time as a fire brigade operator. She wants to be a war correspondent and believes she has finally landed the perfect job towards that goal as a junior at Lancaster House.

There's just a wee problem. She's been hired as a junior typist, not a reporter, and the job is with a failing women's magazine that's stuck with a late Victorian sentiment. Their head editor and advice columnist is a stern woman, Henrietta Bird, who refuses to respond to letters of "unpleasantness."

Emmeline's supposed to destroy the offending letters but she choses instead to read them and as things progress, respond to them. As Mrs. Bird becomes increasingly distracted by her war time efforts and the letters in to the magazine continue to dwindle so that finding any acceptables, Emmeline realizes she can go one step further — publishing her responses in the magazine.

In terms of tone and setting, Dear Mrs. Bird is a good read along or follow up to Radio Girls by Sarah-Jane Stratford (2016) except that Maisie and Hilda have a good working relationship, and Emmeline and Henrietta's borders on toxic.

Five stars

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