The Victory Garden: A Novel

This is a charming and engrossing book which, despite my being very busy, I gobbled it up in a few sittings. Historically, it was interesting to me, because I knew nothing about the Land Girls in WWI. I’d heard about the nurses, therapists, etc., but I’d never heard of the Land Girls despite the incredibly valuable role they played in England during the war. The story is quite engrossing and you will hate to put it down because the trials and tribulations of the main character and her friends are so interesting and believable. I had just gone through all of Rhys Bowen’s “Her Royal Spyness” series and was sad that the next one doesn’t come out for several months, so I decided to explore her other works. I’m so glad I did, because this was a delight to read. I highly recommend this book as well as all of the “Her Royal Spyness” books. Now, I’m going to find some more of her works, which I suspect I will be recommending too.

This is a hishtorical fiction story but would be better labeled as a romance novel. There are mentions of the war, rationing, soldier/airmen dying, women stepping up to fill the jobs the men did, but mostly about a bored woman who finds herself while working as a farm hand and expecting a baby. Fate leads her to the estate of an elderly widow whose husband, son and grandson have all been killed in the war. Then it gets really interesting. The grandson returns as a POW, she's nearly arrested for attempted murder and the gardens are beginning to flourish due to her hand and knowledge. And it ends. You are left to write your own happily-ever-after ending. A good read. It just left me wanting a better ending.

Another book with incredibly well built characters. We readers are left liking or disliking characters based on who they become to us while reading the book. If you like reading good books with both lovable and despicable characters, you can depend on many hours of entertainment with the well written books of Rhys Bowen.

Wonderful story! Really covers all the issues of a dangerous time in history. Delves deep into the characters and is a very well laid out story.

Of course I liked it. Ms. Bowen always does her homework, so her books are (mostly) historically accurate with enough fiction that you don't realize you're getting a history lesson. She takes an unusual account of women who did their part for the war effort, layers just enough fiction to reel you in, and before you know it, you've learned something. There aren't as many books about the women of the Great War, so I was eager to read this one. I had never even heard of the Land Girls. Not much was said about how the women, raised to be taken care of, functioned when virtually all of the men were snatched up and sent to die. Rosie Riveter got her share of attention, but what about the women feeding the country? With no one to tend the farms, the country faced starvation until someone - probably a woman - realized the women waiting for their men were an untapped resource. They were able to overlook the class barriers, and ladies of the manor worked side by side with scullery maids. These women deserved to be acknowledged for their sacrifices, and Rhys Bowen did a fantastic job.

It is now no surprise to me at all why this novel and author have received so many awards for an outstanding literary work of historical fiction. From the moment I started the first chapter I did not want to stop reading. Soon I was praying for a sequel so I could continue to live with the characters who were so precisely drawn through their physical and psychological descriptions. It was so interesting to me, an American woman in 2024, to delve into the lives of these women living through what they thought was “the war to end all wars”. Their positions in society, and the constraints from those positions was clearly shown. Human emotions are also the same whenever in time. And oh! the wealth of information about herbs and homeopathic medicine is just as valid now as then. What a worthwhile novel in all ways! So glad I didn’t miss it. That being said, I’ll be reading more from Rhys Bowen while being ever so grateful for her writing.

The description on the back of this book was on point, nothing else to this story. So, I am going to review my likes and dislikes. This follows the fictional life of the main character Emily during WWI. The story does include her life among the Women's Land Army, albeit not into much detail. Since the book covers the very end of the war, the land girls and Emily's life there were only given about one fourth time of this novel. I was disappointed. Next, the story tries to then focus on the main character using natural herbal remedies as the next chapter in her life, but this aspect just seemed tacked on. Emily's herbal remedy potions had little to do with what she learned being a land girl. It was like the story needed somewhere to go. I kept reading waiting for everything to piece together, but it was weakly done. Something I found interesting and was hopeful about was the pregnancy of the main character. Refusing to go to a home where she can have the child placed for adoption, she was determined to have the child on her own and make ends meet. She has the child out of wedlock during a time period where this was unacceptable, so this is what kept me reading. Yet, I found her unrelenting ability to always prevail and meet her challenges successfully during the pregnancy far-fetched and romantical rather than historical. Not as impressive as The Tuscan Child, which I was a huge fan of. I didn't feel like I was immersed into another society or culture. BUT a quick and very easy read. I would say 2.5 stars. Although some things were very predictable, it was entertaining at times.

All the details about the Great War time, the stiff victorian prejudices and the life at that time make for a book that is only one thing - recomendable!

This novel is a delight from beginning to end. The two world wars have been a treasure trove to mine for numerous authors and this is no exception. It is set in and around the 1914-18 war when all sorts of young men were being shamed into joining up to fight a war that would soon be over - or so they were led to believe. In all this Rhys Bowen tells a touching story of how others, not at the front, were occupying their time and being useful at the same time. The central figure is a young lady, Emily Bryce, mature beyond her young years and the daughter of a judge, who after unforgivable behaviour to his daughter, comes good in the end and a mother with relatively little to commend her. It is all a matter of that perennially debilitating English condition - class. Having been barred from the comfortable middle class home because of her desire to help the war effort in any capacity, she eventually joins the Womens Land Army and is billeted with various women, deemed to be below her class, who turn out to be be her finest friends. She grows up very quickly and and learns much of the farms and land and gardens which will see her triumph in a business embracing them all. The author draws various characters with skill and sympathy and the romance leading to rejection by her parents is handled like all aspects of this book with a true story tellers insight. You must read this beautifully written and touching story.

J’ai adoré , l’histoire, le style, la réalité historique dépeinte . L’histoire m’a tenue en haleine et il était difficile d’abandonner le livre . Maintenant que je l’ai fini, je ressens un grand vide . Les lecteurs et lectrices me comprendront .

The u folding of this story leads you through many alleyways while you really get to know the characters. Bowen has a magical way of winning your heart to keep reading right to the end of a very enjoyable read.

An enjoyable story. Well written, realistic characters whose lives were shaped by the times they were living in. It was interesting to read about women’s contributions to the war efforts, facts that sometimes get lost in history. This is the first book I have read by this author but it won’t be my last.