Author: Kerri Turner
Year of release: 2020
Publisher: Harlequin Australia
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Wartime, WW11, Women’s Fiction
An enthralling story of one woman’s determined grab for freedom after WW2 from a talented new Australian voice. ‘PART CABARET, PART BURLESQUE, AND LIKE NOTHING YOU’VE EVER SEEN BEFORE! GENTLEMEN, AND LADIES IF YOU’VE DARED TO COME, WELCOME TO …’
‘THE VICTORY!’
1945: After the thrill and danger of volunteering in an all-female searchlight regiment protecting Londoners from German bombers overhead, Evelyn Bell is secretly dismayed to be sent back to her rigid domestic life when the war is over. But then she comes across a secret night-time show, hidden from the law on a boat in the middle of the Thames. Entranced by the risque and lively performance, she grabs the opportunity to join the misfit crew and escape her dreary future.
At first the Victory travels from port to port to raucous applause, but as the shows get bigger and bigger, so too do the risks the performers are driven to take, as well as the growing emotional complications among the crew. Until one desperate night …
1963: Lucy, an unloved and unwanted little girl, is rescued by a mysterious stranger who says he knows her mother. On the Isle of Wight, Lucy is welcomed into an eclectic family of ex-performers. She is showered with kindness and love, but gradually it becomes clear that there are secrets they refuse to share. Who is Evelyn Bell?
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Review
Did you love Kerri Turner’s The days of the Romanov Dancers?
Love a good dual timeline story set in World War 2 with heart and adventure? This book will be a welcome addition to your bookshelf,
The story shines the light of a young lady by the name of Evelyn Bell who is looking for something more in her life, besides the hum-drum of domestic life after the thrill, danger, and being of use in an all-female searchlight regiment, who could blame her.
After discovering what has happened to around him Flynn decides that he must help in some way, this decision will change him and how he views the world forever.
I was hooked within the first couple of pages with Evie looking for something more, that gives us that spark, joy, helpfulness, belonging I think so many people dream of it but how many of us stand up and say it out loud or seek it out? Giving no mind to the nay-sayers and even if those people were around we stand up and do it anyway.
One day Evelyn is given the opportunity to come and witness a show,
later that night Evelyn does just that and goes to view the show a decision that changes the course of Evelyn’s life forever all aboard The Victory!
Author Kerri Turner, has written a Distinctive Historical Fictional novel filled with emotion. Thanks to her strong storytelling ability I was able to identify with Evelyn, Flynn, and Bee within their strengths, triumphs, struggles and fears, my only regret as the reader was my time here was too short, I wasn’t quite ready for the last timeline change I felt for me this last jump took away some of the time I could’ve used to farewell my new found friends and gain a clearer picture of what really happened to the characters during this time period but instead I felt like I found out second hand.
The Daughter of Victory Lights is unlike anything I have previously read in the world of Historical Fiction, wartime genre, it was so refreshing to read a story that takes place post war, as it could answer a possible question what might’ve happened next?
It Also has an element of adventure within it’s pages that’s quite refreshing, but if you’re not so keen or don’t like the surprise of romance even in this case it is just a sprinkling, within pages of a book not in the romance genre, I’m telling you it’s in there so now this is something you can be aware of.
Recommended for readers of Historical Fiction, if you loved or enjoy World War 2 based stories or other authors such as Natasha Lester you’ll feel right at home here.
Thanks to Harlequin Australia and Kerri Turner for the opportunity to read an uncorrected proof of The Daughter of Victory Lights in exchange for my honest opinion.