Skip to main content

Dear Miss Lake - AJ Pearce

 


Description

Hope is on the horizon, but her greatest battle is about to begin. . . 

From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Dear Mrs BirdDear Miss Lake returns us to wartime London, where Emmy Lake is facing her greatest challenge yet.

London, July 1944. Journalist Emmy Lake's career is soaring: Woman's Friend magazine is a huge success, and she is finally realizing her dream of becoming a Lady War Correspondent. On the personal front, Emmy's husband Charles has been posted closer to home, and they and their friends Bunty and Harold have escaped to the countryside for a few precious summer days. They all know how lucky they are.

But after nearly five years of war, the nation is struggling. The "Yours Cheerfully" advice column receives more letters than ever, and even though it looks like the war might finally be over by Christmas, the situation is far from resolved. For Emmy and her team, it’s all about pulling together and pushing on. But then disaster strikes. Soon Emmy needs her friends more than ever . . .

Endearing, engaging, and full of heart, Dear Miss Lake is a testament to the power of friendship in the hardest of times.

Review


This is the fourth and final book in the series and IMO the best one. It could be a standalone book. You will find that there are a lot of characters, and you won't know much about them. Best to just begin with the first book and have the joy of reading the whole series.

What I like about these books, is the social history aspect of them, rather than the war aspect. Although in this book there is a little more about the war and those serving with the impact on their loved ones. I also like the angle of the Woman's Friend magazine and the letters they receive. It really brought home to me what life was like for people day to day during the war. The writing is so easy and engaging to read, the characters really brought to life together with their hopes and fears.

Set in 1944 all know that WW2 is about to end from the the timeline without even reading the book. What we don't know is the fate of all the people we have met over the previous three books. I had my favourites and was hoping they would be safe. I did shed a few tears near the end, you will need to read it to find out for yourself why that was. 

I will miss Emmy and the others, but I think it's the right decision to end the story with this book.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review. The book is published on 3 July 2025.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

Description THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER. YOU DON'T KNOW HER. BUT SHE KNOWS YOU. Rear Window  meets  Gone Girl , in this exceptional and startling psychological thriller Review I must be one of the last people to read this book. I did apply for a review copy but unfortunately wasn't successful. I then waited for the book to come down in price which it didn't - so I decided I would buy it and read it straight away! I'm sure it will be a film and before anyone gives away what happens I felt I really needed to get it read, so it jumped the TBR queue. There is not much plot outline from the publisher as you can see in the description above, so there wasn't a lot to go on when I began to read the book. First of all the book jumps around date wise - past and present and also between the main characters. I did have a little trouble remembering who was who and which time frame we were in - but that soon settled down. I also had to re-read the beginning because I th...

This Immaculate Body - Emma Van Straaten

Description ' From the very first page, Emma Van Straaten had me by the Hail Marys.  Obsessive, delusional, disastrous - but so intricately woven with heart, warmth and empathy. An impeccable debut from a rising talent ' ALICE SLATER 'An addictive deep-dive into the dark, throbbing heart of obsessive desire.  Baby Reindeer  meets  Convenience Store Woman '  KIRSTY LOGAN, author of  Now She Is Witch Alice has been cleaning Tom's flat every Wednesday for a year. With every smudge wiped from his coffee cup, every crease smoothed out in his bed, every multivitamin counted from the jar, Alice spirals deeper into infatuation. But as Alice prepares for the moment when they will finally meet face-to-face, she discovers that love might not be the cure she thought it was. . . This Immaculate Body  is a story of obsession, of the way women view the world and the ways that the world views them. As Alice frantically tries to cling to an imagined future with Tom, th...

The C Word - An anthology of murder, mystery, death & destruction

  Great to be on the book tour today for this book today especially as 100% of all royalties from The C Word will be donated to NHS Together Charities. Description So, what do writers do during Lockdown? They create murder, mystery, death and destruction of course! The C Word is a collection of short stories collated during the COVID-19 pandemic to raise money for NHS Charities Together. A plethora of wonderful stories created by a wide variety of writers, each with their own unique style. Some you will know already and some we’ve yet to introduce you to. However, we’re sure you’ll want to hear from each and every one of them again as we leave 2020 behind us. With contributions from Steve Mosby, Sophie Hannah, Elly Griffiths, Sarah Hilary, Rob Scragg, Trevor Wood and many more. Review A great collection of short stories and certainly written for our times. Some of these stories were a little too dark for my usual reading tastes, but as they were short I stuck with them. There could...