Ronnie is the youngest of three sisters and the only one still at home with her Maman, Suzy is traveling with the ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association), and Raine is flying with the women's Air Forces. At first, Ronnie wanted to be part of the Land Army, working on a farm, but she was too young. When she saw a newsreel at the movie theater that described the boat girls who moved cargo up and down the canals and found that she was closer to the minimum age to be part of the program. She wasn't quite old enough to enlist in the program, but with Raine's help, she gets accepted.
In many ways this book reminded me of a book I read last year--The Boat Girls (reviewed here). While the plots are not the same, the description of the life of the boat girls or boat wenches, as some call them, is pretty much the same in detail. The training was tough and took only the hardiest girls to complete the training. The training boatwoman, Deadly Dora, is hard as nails and exacting in her expectations of the girls' performance on the boats. The girls training with Ronnie were quite the assortment and added color to the plot of the book. Among the other characters are Will Drake, a young local man who follows the boats up and down the cut; and Michael Scott, a constable for the Grand Union Canals.
What I like about how Molly Green wrote her characterizations is that she gave Deadly Dora a sympathetic back-story that makes her more than just a taskmaster, but gives her likability. Molly is quickly becoming one of my favorite World War II era authors. Her books are well-researched, her settings are completely believable, and her characters are wholly fleshed-out.
This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a trip up the cut on a narrow boat.
Avon Books UK and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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