#BlogTour: The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons @1AnnieLyons @headlinepg @RandomTTours #TheAirRaidBookClub #AnnieLyons #5Stars

Book Synopsis:

As the bombs began to fall, the book club kept their hopes alive…

London, 1938. Bookseller Gertie Bingham is facing difficult times, having just lost her beloved husband, Harry, and with a lingering sadness at never having been able to have a child of her own. Struggling to face running the bookshop she and Harry opened together, Gertie is preparing to sell up and move away when she is asked if she would be willing to take in a young Jewish refugee from Germany. Gertie is unsure and when sullen teenager Hedy Fischer arrives, Gertie fears she has nothing left to give the troubled girl.

But when the German bombers come and the lights go out over London, Gertie and Hedy realise that joining forces will make them stronger, and that books have the power to bring young and old together and unite a community in need in its darkest hour…

My Review:

The Air Raid Book Club is a beautiful, emotional and heartwarming read from a new author for me.

Firstly I absolutely loved the characters the author has created and really enjoyed following them throughout the book. They were such fun to be around and I soon found myself growing very fond of them as I read. I found myself wishing that I could be part of their bookclub as it seemed like such a lovely group that I’d love to be friends with. Gertie was a fantastic main character and I loved watching her slowly heal as the book goes on. It was great to see her go from strength to strength and blossom as she cares for Hedy.

As a book lover myself I really liked the message in this book I about the power that books can have. This was evident through the book club which helped to provide a wonderful community for people at a difficult time but also in the packages the red cross were sending to prisoners of war to help boost their spirits. I thought it was really nice that this happened and it made me hope that they did help in some small way.

I found it interesting to learn more about how Britain helped some of the Jewish population of Europe escape from Nazi persecution as I didn’t realise how much was known about this in Britain. It was very poignant to witness Hedy wondering about the family she left behind when we know through history what might have happened to them. It made me want to jump into the book and give her a huge hug. Hedy and Gertie’s developing relationship was wonderful to read about and I liked how they were both able to help each other when they both needed it the most.

This book had a great pace to it and I was soon absorbed into the story. I found the book hard to put down as I was so enjoying the descriptions of the fabulous community created by the book club but also because I really cared about the characters so I wanted to keep reading to check they were ok. The ending was beautiful and I closed the book happy to have read such a fantastic story but sad to leave the characters behind.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book. If you are a fan of historical fiction then you’ll need to read this book.

About The Author:

After a career in bookselling and publishing, Annie Lyons became an author. When not
working on her novels, she teaches creative writing. She lives in south-east London with
her husband and two children and puppy, Nelson.