2025 Book Review #30:Glamour Girls

 

I have read two mysteries by this author and enjoyed them,(reviewed here  and here) and now I've enjoyed this historical fiction story she wrote, based on female pilots in England during WWII. 

STORY SUMMARY

Rosalie Wright has wanted to be a pilot ever since she was 10 years old. In fact, when she turned 12, her father brought her to an air field for an airplane ride and thus her longing turned into  a deep passion and finally a career. She was raised in the English countryside on a farm called Lime Farm with her dad, mom, and 2 older brothers, Leslie, and Will. Her dad during her teen years and Will began to date a "Land Girl" named Jean who was working on the farm. Leslie's girlfriend Ellen had broken up with him. Rosalie  was just trying to help out on the family farm. At the age of 18, England entered WWII and she watched as her dreams of becoming a pilot flew away. 

But then she hears about the Air Transport Authority and how they were recruiting female pilots to ferry war planes across Britain to RAF (Royal Air Force, the United Kingdom's air force ) bases. Her mother didn't approve of Rosalie going off to training but Rosalie just couldn't resist the call to help her country...and to fly planes. She trained on Gipsy Moth aircraft and formed a close friendship with fellow flyer Caroline (Caro) Andrews. She kept a Ferry Pilots Notebook and wrote down all of her flights and  the different planes she flew.  She would sometimes deliver to five airfields in one day and fought battles on the ground against male pilots who were skeptical of the female ones. 

Rosalie always preferred spending her time in a plane than with a man but then she meets gruff pilot Snug Durrant and RAF Squadron leader Alan Chersey. Snug is rather cynical, sarcastic, and a playboy.  Alan is every WAAF's (Women's Auxiliary Air Force which was formed in 1939)  heartthrob....and Rosalie realizes she's caught the eye of both boys. The war drags on.....as does her physical relationship with Alan...and her friendship with Snug.....which man will win her heart??? The war drags on, many casualties happen and then something tragic happens.....what will Rosalie do??

MY THOUGHTS

I knew nothing about the female pilots of Great Britain during WWII until I read this book. It is based on the real life of Mary Wilkins Elis and the fact that Pauline Gower had broken the barrier for women to fly planes. The real Mary (the author changed the name to Rosalie) joined the ATA and began to ferry planes to Royal Air Force bases all across England, Scotland, and Wales. The ATA was made up of men and women with 12% being women. They were known as Atagirls).  Hamble is a real place in England and the author kept that fact in the book. 

I liked this story because Rosalie and her friends (Caro, Zophia, Snug, Alan, Brenda, Mrs May) are all well developed characters with unique personalities and their own subplots. I also liked how the author presented Rosalie's family and the farm. The real Mary also grew up on a farm in Oxfordshire who also loved to fly. 

There was a little bit of romance in this book but nothing too sappy or over done. I really liked the family drama of Will and Jean in the background of this story and the fact that Rosalie's mother had to learn to accept something about Jean. I don't want to say what it is, as I don't want to ruin the story for you.

I really liked that Rosalie's role in her family seemed to be that of being a peace-maker/keeper.  She didn't want or like conflict so was always trying to bring peace into the family drama but also of course there is the huge conflict of Hitler and the rest of the world. It's a very well written book. 

The book is kind of like reading a diary with each chapter including as a title, the month and year. The book also explains all the different planes Mary/Rosalie flew and to what air fields she was going and how the various planes were used in the war. I found this very informative but not boring. 

Rosalie is a very innocent girl and often seems confused by "things in life/of the world" but her friends rally around her and help her navigate her family, relationships, and various tragedies that occur in the book. 

The book's main themes seem to be: the hardships of WWII, the path women forged via the ATA, perseverance, the bonds of friendship, death, mother-daughter relationship, what love is...and isn 't......and about a young girl who follows her heart and learns many lessons along the way. 

I enjoyed the fact that there was no crass language or taking God's name in vain in this story nor were there explicit s*x scenes, although in a couple of chapters, there is implied s*x outside of marriage. This slips it to a 9 for me. There was another issue in the book that I found disappointing but I won't go into that here. Let's just say I wish the author hadn't felt the need to include that. (especially because in 1940s England, it would not have been so open). 

I found no editing issues in this book. One thing I found odd: chapter 1 implies that Alan dies when his plane hits the ground and smoke pours into the cockpit....yet the ending of the book, just 9 months later, has him getting married and becoming a banker. I found that odd. And at first I thought the title was strange because those women were known as "Attagirls" but then towards the end of the story, we learn that the British newspapers called them "glamour girls". So I looked that up online and discovered that the journalists called them that, not in our modern sense of the term, but because of their dedication, bravery, etc in serving in the war. 

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older. 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.