The Victory Garden, by Rhys Bowen

This follows the fictional life of the main character Emily during WWI. The story does include her life among the Women’s Land Army, albeit not into much detail. Since the book covers the very end of the war, the land girls and Emily’s life there were only given about one fourth time of this novel. I was disappointed. Next, the story tries to then focus on the main character using natural herbal remedies as the next chapter in her life, but this aspect just seemed tacked on. Emily’s herbal remedy potions had little to do with what she learned being a land girl. It was like the story needed somewhere to go. I kept reading waiting for everything to piece together, but it was weakly done.


Something I found interesting and was hopeful about was the pregnancy of the main character. Refusing to go to a home where she can have the child placed for adoption, she was determined to have the child on her own and make ends meet. She has the child out of wedlock during a time period where this was unacceptable, so this is what kept me reading. Yet, I found her unrelenting ability to always prevail and meet her challenges successfully during the pregnancy far-fetched and romantical rather than historical.

Not as impressive as The Tuscan Child, which I was a huge fan of. I didn’t feel like I was immersed into another society or culture. But a quick, light, and very easy read. I would say 2.5 stars out of 5.

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