A paint-by-numbers but readable Blitz set saga that the cliched characters fail to bring to life.
A Ration Book Childhood is the third book is the series featuring the larger than life Brogan family and set firmly in the East End during the darkest days of the Blitz. Each book in the series focuses primarily on one family member with the first and second book telling the stories of daughters, Mattie and Jo respectively and this third book concentrating on big-hearted matriarch, Ida. Having read the second book that takes in Jo’s evacuation and sees her joining the home front war effort and finding it a pleasant read I was wholeheartedly disappointed by this third instalment.
At forty-two years old Ida Brogan has been married for a quarter of a century to Irish charmer and rag-and-bone man, Jeremiah (Jerry), and raised three girls and a son alongside her sister’s eleven-year-old unwanted son, Billy. Living with her cantankerous mother-in-law, Queenie, who doubles as a bookmakers runner and already no stranger to hard times, the run up to Christmas 1941 sees austerity and additional wartime directives stretch the family finances. Together with Ida attempting to make the Christmas a happy one with a few unexpected culinary luxuries she also volunteers at the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) rest centre with Jerry on patrol as a member of the Home Guard and unmarried daughter, Jo, an ambulance driver.
The central focus of the plot revolves around Ida catching sight of an old friend, Ellen Gilbert, looking a shadow of her former self even bearing in mind the two years of food rationing and disturbed nights that the country has experienced. With cheekbones jutting out and a sallow complexion her shock is only compounded when Ellen introduces her son, Michael, the spitting image of Jeremiah and leaving Ida in no doubt that her husband has been unfaithful and her children have a half-brother living just a few streets away. But why is Ellen back and what does it mean for the Brogan’s, in particular Ida? With implications for her family and the burden falling on matriarch, Ida, she soon finds herself confronted by the most impossible choices...
Disappointingly Ida’s eventual decisions felt like a foregone conclusion from the off and instead of the turmoil that I would have expected a woman in her position to experience her responses all felt a little hollow. Her easy acceptance of the predicament and the lead up to a making several unenviable choices felt devoid of real emotion meaning I found it difficult to invest in Ida as a character. In addition so much of the dialogue and interaction felt forced and as a consequence the whole main plot was disappointingly predictable. Fullerton’s poor characterisation lets the novel down with several of the predominant characters in this novel (Ida, Jeremiah, Queenie) failing to emerge from the page and their behaviour feeling stilted throughout.
Alongside the central plot of Ida and Jeremiah’s troubles, other family members stories provide some interesting sub-plots and combine to build a picture of London family life in the East End during the worst of the Blitz. Together with Jeremiah attempting to branch out with the rag-and-bone trade less profitable the stories of all three daughters add much to the drama, with eldest daughter, Mattie, a mother and and her husband working for MI5, Cathy’s husband behind bars and ambulance driver Jo’s fiancé stationed at Bletchley Park.
Admittedly there is a great deal of wartime colour but much of it is anecdotal and pretty superficial, being things that will be widely known amongst anyone with an interest in this period from eggless cakes, queuing outside shops, substituting with potatoes and carrots in recipes and all unclaimed metal being deemed government property. Despite being a very readable wartime saga that comes with snippets of information on the home front in the run up to Christmas 1941 I found it disappointingly formulaic and it added little to the previous saga novels that I have read. The emphasis of the novel is very definitely rosy and overall it failed to convince.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
At forty-two years old Ida Brogan has been married for a quarter of a century to Irish charmer and rag-and-bone man, Jeremiah (Jerry), and raised three girls and a son alongside her sister’s eleven-year-old unwanted son, Billy. Living with her cantankerous mother-in-law, Queenie, who doubles as a bookmakers runner and already no stranger to hard times, the run up to Christmas 1941 sees austerity and additional wartime directives stretch the family finances. Together with Ida attempting to make the Christmas a happy one with a few unexpected culinary luxuries she also volunteers at the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) rest centre with Jerry on patrol as a member of the Home Guard and unmarried daughter, Jo, an ambulance driver.
The central focus of the plot revolves around Ida catching sight of an old friend, Ellen Gilbert, looking a shadow of her former self even bearing in mind the two years of food rationing and disturbed nights that the country has experienced. With cheekbones jutting out and a sallow complexion her shock is only compounded when Ellen introduces her son, Michael, the spitting image of Jeremiah and leaving Ida in no doubt that her husband has been unfaithful and her children have a half-brother living just a few streets away. But why is Ellen back and what does it mean for the Brogan’s, in particular Ida? With implications for her family and the burden falling on matriarch, Ida, she soon finds herself confronted by the most impossible choices...
Disappointingly Ida’s eventual decisions felt like a foregone conclusion from the off and instead of the turmoil that I would have expected a woman in her position to experience her responses all felt a little hollow. Her easy acceptance of the predicament and the lead up to a making several unenviable choices felt devoid of real emotion meaning I found it difficult to invest in Ida as a character. In addition so much of the dialogue and interaction felt forced and as a consequence the whole main plot was disappointingly predictable. Fullerton’s poor characterisation lets the novel down with several of the predominant characters in this novel (Ida, Jeremiah, Queenie) failing to emerge from the page and their behaviour feeling stilted throughout.
Alongside the central plot of Ida and Jeremiah’s troubles, other family members stories provide some interesting sub-plots and combine to build a picture of London family life in the East End during the worst of the Blitz. Together with Jeremiah attempting to branch out with the rag-and-bone trade less profitable the stories of all three daughters add much to the drama, with eldest daughter, Mattie, a mother and and her husband working for MI5, Cathy’s husband behind bars and ambulance driver Jo’s fiancé stationed at Bletchley Park.
Admittedly there is a great deal of wartime colour but much of it is anecdotal and pretty superficial, being things that will be widely known amongst anyone with an interest in this period from eggless cakes, queuing outside shops, substituting with potatoes and carrots in recipes and all unclaimed metal being deemed government property. Despite being a very readable wartime saga that comes with snippets of information on the home front in the run up to Christmas 1941 I found it disappointingly formulaic and it added little to the previous saga novels that I have read. The emphasis of the novel is very definitely rosy and overall it failed to convince.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.