Edie's Home for Orphans

 Edie wants to join up to help in the fight against Hitler, but all of the avenues of opportunity are closed off to her because she had consumption as a child and her lungs are just not strong enough.  The ONLY thing she can do is to become a Land Girl and help out on a farm in a Cumbrian village.  She boards at the Applewood Manor and works part time at the Larkstone Farm.  Her landlady at Applewood, Prue Hewitt, is a woman who has closed herself off from the rest of the world and given up the hope of ever loving again.  Edie shows up with stars in her eyes and a willing heart. The work is harder than anything she ever expected and yet she shows her pluck by never giving up.  

Prue has inherited Applewood from her late husband, Albert, who married the housekeeper's daughter in spite of the "class difference." Prue is not one of the more popular residents of the village, and Patricia, the priest's wife, takes every opportunity to let her know just how far beneath she is.  When Patricia insists that Prue take in evacuee children, Prue isn't entirely happy about it, but when the children (Aggie and Jimmy) arrive, she loses a bit of her heart to them.  Edie is on hand to help with the children and makes fast friends with them. 

Also inhabiting Applewood are Jack and Tilly.  Jack is the gardener who has loved Prue since they were children, and Tilly is a young mother-to-be who is secretly married to an Italian prisoner of war. 

Edie works for Sam Nicholson at Larkstone Farm, helping with the sheep--birthing, raising, and general care of the farm.  Sam sees a like-minded woman in Edie and wants to know her better, but doesn't quite know how to go about it.  He is branded as a coward because he is not off fighting in the war, even though no one in town knows that he can't pass the physical.  He feels his problems are his own and no one else's business. 

This book is misnamed to a degree, because it is Prue's home that takes in all of the strays and orphans. It is Prue's attitude that changes as the plot moves on through the book.  It is Prue who has the bigger romantic plot line, rather than Edie; which is not to say that Edie doesn't have her own romantic plot, hers is just not as significant as Prue's.  

This is the first book I've read by Gracie Taylor, and I hope it is not the last one I will read by her.  The characters are engaging, and the plot is compelling.  The settings are bucolic and inviting, and there are events in the plot that make it more exciting.  Gracie has also dealt with PTSD (although that was not the term for the condition back in the day) in a dignified way to bring empathy toward the sufferers. This is the kind of book a reader picks up and won't put down until the very last page is finished. 

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and Aggie's Cheese Custard for tea. 

HarperCollins Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.