A good addition to the Brogan family saga.
This is the latest in the series of books surrounding the exploits of the Brogan family throughout the war in the East End of London. As such it can be read as a self-contained story or as part of the series.
In this book the focus is on the Brogan’s eldest son Charlie as he is returned to the UK to recuperate after being injured in North Africa to find that his wife is working as a stripper and providing aid and comfort to US forces to coin a phrase. It focuses on his realisation that he loves his sister Mattie’s best friend Francesca who has loved him for years but whom he has ignored to date. How this situation is resolved is the mainstay of the story.
Away from Charlie various other issues are resolved and Queenie proves herself to be the family matriarch in the most surprising of ways as she deals with a direct threat to Cathy in the most uncompromising of ways.
Like the preceding books I enjoyed this tale but unlike previous books there were unusually a couple of historical errors. Notably Charlie would not have disembarked in Algiers in 1941 as this was Vichy territory until Operation Torch in November 1942. Likewise there were no five star general in the US Army until 1944 and then there were only three – Marshall, McArthur and Eisenhower in that order (Bradley was given five star rank after the war for his work with the Veteran’s Administration). Indeed five star rank was only developed to reflect the equivalent British rank of Field Marshall.
In this book the focus is on the Brogan’s eldest son Charlie as he is returned to the UK to recuperate after being injured in North Africa to find that his wife is working as a stripper and providing aid and comfort to US forces to coin a phrase. It focuses on his realisation that he loves his sister Mattie’s best friend Francesca who has loved him for years but whom he has ignored to date. How this situation is resolved is the mainstay of the story.
Away from Charlie various other issues are resolved and Queenie proves herself to be the family matriarch in the most surprising of ways as she deals with a direct threat to Cathy in the most uncompromising of ways.
Like the preceding books I enjoyed this tale but unlike previous books there were unusually a couple of historical errors. Notably Charlie would not have disembarked in Algiers in 1941 as this was Vichy territory until Operation Torch in November 1942. Likewise there were no five star general in the US Army until 1944 and then there were only three – Marshall, McArthur and Eisenhower in that order (Bradley was given five star rank after the war for his work with the Veteran’s Administration). Indeed five star rank was only developed to reflect the equivalent British rank of Field Marshall.