Dear Mrs. Bird by A. J Pearce is a historical fiction debut novel set in Britain during 1940-1941 during the Blitzkrieg. This novel balances heartbreaking with heart warming splendidly. A fantastic debut novel. The novel is Historical fiction but doesn’t tell the audience a history lesson on World War II it just sets up so someone with basic knowledge can understand Britain is against the Nazis and there’s is a war being fought over head with an occasional bomb dropped every now and then. This novel tells history of other ways in clothing, music, dialogue and women’s rights, and does an amazing job at it, and never made me question the era.

The Plot: Emmy Lake wants to be a war journalist, she is very up on current events of present day 1940’s war torn Britain and also, wrote for her home paper when she lived there, and she has just seen an advertisement for her dream job at the London Evening Chronicle as a junior reporter. But when she gets the job it is not about journalism at all and it is not for the London Evening Chronicle but a subsidiary magazine called Women’s Friend, where she will forward acceptable letters to Mrs. Bird the advice columnist. The problem Mrs. Bird doesn’t want any unhappiness of war posted, she wants best way to avoid getting freckles. Emmy is advised to not read the unpleasant letters and to immediately rip them up. Emmy challenges Mrs. Bird by sending her unpleasantness but with women desperate for advice, but Mrs. Bird does not budge. Emmy can’t take it anymore and decides to write back to a young girl desperate for advice on love for a soldier, and signs it Mrs. Bird. When she gets a heartfelt letter back, Emmy decides to write back more as Mrs. Bird.

What I Liked: How this book took place in the 1940’s and is still relevant in today’s world on women’s rights and on unpleasantness. This book has plenty of hilarious moments, I laughed out loud a couple of times, and was definitely not expecting that. The funniest moment that comes to mind is Bunty’s plan to get Emmy alone with a guy. I love the character of Bunty and Emmy and their dynamic together. I liked the love story and thought it felt very real. The brief history of the bicycle shop was a great moment as description and history. The balance of the emotional rollercoaster that this book takes the reader on.

What I Disliked: I felt it ended too soon with a few story lines in the air, it wrapped up the main story pretty well, but not the side stories, there was a lot left hanging in the air, two character’s and there future relationship with Emmy. The Blitzkrieg could have been described better it was too vague.

Recommendations: I will recommend Dear Mrs. Bird for readers to check this book out, I did an overview of the plot, but there’s a lot of little surprises that made this story really a fun read. If you like historical fiction, it not as detailed as I would’ve like, but still done where I never questioned if it was the right decade. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars and since this is her debut novel will look forward to reading the author’s next work.