Eleanor, sixteen, works like a Land Girl, even though her family owns the farm they labor on. A boy comes to the door one day, begging to be hired as a farmer. Luckily her father employs Jim, an evacuee from London, who is full of evasion, but a hard worker and loyal to his family. Eleanor works at the mysteries surrounding Jim, until she learns the truth about his poor family. It doesn't stop her from making him a friend.
Pat, her older sister, has formed an attachment with Chas, a black American soldier. He charms her and is kind and interesting, but soon ships off to the war, leaving Pat wondering just where she stands.
Someone else wonders that very thing. Alex, the rich boy who has known her all her life but only been friendly perks up and finally takes notice. Just as things are stirring up, a whole wing of Alex's mansion blows up. When the girls return home, they find that their mother has been taken into custody because it becomes known that she has been colluding with a German.
The girls must learn who the real German spy is, and who blew up Thundersley Hall so they can free their mother.
Anna painted us a wonderful picture, putting us right into the story. I felt the ache in my back as Anna showed me what it felt like to have to produce the food people were queuing for, since the men were off in the war. I felt the brush of a dress like Patricia's threadbare frock against my legs where I'd, like her, drawn a brown line down the back of each leg to make them look like stockings.
Was that an inquisitive neighbor, or someone hiding a German spy? Did the old man who shopkeepers wouldn't sell to really blow up a British think tank, or was he merely a lonely old man who kept a lush garden?
And I felt the anguish they must have felt at having an empty bedroom full of a brother's no longer needed things. I felt their fear as they wondered why someone is bombing the manor next door. Why was their mother carted off, possibly never to return? How can they prove her innocence? How can they get all that work done? And who should Pat walk out with, the rich boy next door who has never been more than a friend, or the black American soldier who might never return from war? It was a time when you either kept your family close or risked never seeing them again.
I enjoyed this mystery. Eleanor and Pat felt like sisters to me. This book featured:
Zero sex or bad language.
Nada for guts and blood.
No visible corpses.
A pinch of stolen kiss.
A teaspoon of substance abuse at a bar.
A gallon of going on instinct.
A shovelful of rallying home spirit.
Bombs, spies, and Germans, oh my!
My take? I give this book seven out of eight shovels.
You can get this book here or here. I highly recommend it.
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