"The Call of the Wrens" by Jenni L. Walsh - Historical Fiction Book Club - Past Titles

About the Author: Jenni L. Walsh

Jenni L. Walsh has a background in both education and writing. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Special Education. After teaching for several years, Walsh pursued her passion for writing historical fiction. She has a particular interest in bringing historical events and figures to life through storytelling.

One of her notable works is the novel "Becoming Bonnie" (2017), which explores the early life of the infamous criminal couple Bonnie and Clyde. The book is a historical fiction account that delves into the circumstances and choices that led to Bonnie Parker becoming one half of the notorious duo.

In addition to "Becoming Bonnie," Jenni L. Walsh has contributed to the genre of historical fiction with other works that capture the essence of different time periods. Her writing often focuses on strong female characters and the challenges they face in the historical contexts in which they live.

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Synopsis

An orphan who spent her youth without a true home, Marion Hoxton found in the Great War something other than destruction. She discovered a chance to belong. As a member of the Women's Royal Naval Service--the Wrens--Marion gained sisters. She found purpose in her work as a motorcycle dispatch rider assigned to train and deliver carrier pigeons to the front line. And despite the constant threat of danger, she and her childhood friend Eddie began to dream of a future together. Until the battle that changed everything. Now twenty years later, another war has broken out across Europe, calling Marion to return to the fight. Meanwhile others, like twenty-year-old society girl Evelyn Fairchild, hear the call for the first time. For Evelyn, serving in the war is a way to prove herself after a childhood fraught with surgeries and limitations from a disability. The re-formation of the Wrens as World War II rages is the perfect opportunity to make a difference in the world at seventy miles per hour.

Historical Timeline

The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was a women's branch of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom that played a significant role during various periods, especially during World War II. Here is a brief timeline of the Women's Royal Naval Service:

1917: The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was officially established on November 28, 1917, during World War I. Its formation aimed to free up men for sea service by allowing women to take on shore-based roles.
1918: The first Director of the WRNS, Josephine Troup, was appointed in 1918.
1919: The WRNS continued its operations briefly after World War I and was disbanded in 1919, as the need for women in naval service diminished.
1939: With the outbreak of World War II, the Women's Royal Naval Service was revived in 1939 to meet the growing demand for personnel.
1941: The WRNS expanded its roles, and women were employed in a variety of jobs, including communications, intelligence, signals, and clerical work.
1942: The WRNS was granted full status as a permanent part of the Royal Navy in 1942, and its members were given the same legal status as their male counterparts.
1944: By 1944, the WRNS had over 74,000 active members, contributing significantly to the war effort.
1946: After the end of World War II, the Women's Royal Naval Service was once again disbanded in 1946, as demobilization and a return to peacetime conditions reduced the need for a separate women's service.
1952: The WRNS was revived once more in 1952, reflecting the changing roles of women in the military during the post-war period.
1993: The WRNS was fully integrated into the Royal Navy in 1993, and women in the Royal Navy were no longer part of a separate service. The integration marked a significant step towards gender equality in the British armed forces.

This timeline provides an overview of the key moments in the history of the Women's Royal Naval Service, highlighting its establishment during both World Wars and its evolution over the years.

The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen
Call Number: FICTION Bowen
As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage. When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a "land girl," tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It's here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. The journals inspire Emily, and in the wake of devastating news, they are her saving grace. Emily's lover has not only died a hero but has left her terrified--and with child. Since no one knows that Emily was never married, she adopts the charade of a war widow. As Emily learns more about the volatile power of healing with herbs, the found journals will bring her to the brink of disaster, but may open a path to her destiny.
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
Call Number: FICTION Cleave
London, 1939. The day war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up. Tom Shaw decides to ignore the war--until he learns his roommate Alistair Heath has unexpectedly enlisted. Then the conflict can no longer be avoided. Young, bright, and brave, Mary is certain she'd be a marvelous spy. When she is--bewilderingly--made a teacher, she finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget. Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary. And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love, as well as war, that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship and deception, inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams. Set in London during the years of 1939-1942, when citizens had slim hope of survival, much less victory; and on the strategic island of Malta, which was daily devastated by the Axis barrage, Everyone Brave is Forgiven features little-known history and a perfect wartime love story inspired by the real-life love letters between Chris Cleave's grandparents. This dazzling novel dares us to understand that, against the great theater of world events, it is the intimate losses, the small battles, the daily human triumphs that change us most.
The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood
Call Number: FICTION Enerson Wood
Superintendent of Nurses Julia Stimson and sixty-five inexperienced young nurses arrive on the front lines of WWI to find chaos. With 1,300 soldiers stuffed into a facility built for 500, providing even the most basic care is challenging-and Julia quickly learns that male doctors see her as a threat to their authority. Based on a true story, The War Nurse follows Julia through WWI in France, while the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic overwhelms medical resources. Julia must confront an unthinkable choice-to challenge her profession and risk her hard-won career, or to let the people she loves die in her arms.

*ebook & audiobook on hoopla
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Call Number: FICTION Hannah
"Viann and Isabelle have always been close despite their differences. Younger, bolder sister Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann lives a quiet and content life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. When World War II strikes and Antoine is sent off to fight, Viann and Isabelle's father sends Isabelle to help her older sister cope. As the war progresses, it's not only the sisters' relationship that is tested, but also their strength and their individual senses of right and wrong. With life as they know it changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Viann and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions".

*ebook & audiobook on Libby
*audiobook on hoopla
Half in Shadow by Gemma Liviero
Call Number: FICTION LIVIERO
1915. In German-occupied Belgium, a tragic loss forces Josephine Descharmes to navigate dangerous new territory. By day it's compliance, serving German officers at the Hotel Métropole. By night it's resistance, working with her brothers underground to help Allied soldiers and civilians cross the border into Holland. Both paths put her and her family at great risk. As Josephine struggles to keep her family safe, Arthur, a grief-stricken English soldier trapped behind enemy lines, finds purpose and hope with Josephine and her work. Meanwhile, Franz, a German officer remorseful for the casualties of war, offers her protection and opportunity. These two men from opposing sides will open her heart and test her loyalties. Amid the sorrows of war and threats of mortal danger and betrayal, Josephine must steer her own fate. In a country deprived of freedom, she will make an impossible choice--one that will forever impact the family she cherishes and the man she loves.
The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan
Call Number: FICTION Ryan
Mrs. Braithwaite, self-appointed queen of her English village, finds herself dethroned, despised, and dismissed following her husband's selfish divorce petition. Never deterred, the threat of a family secret being revealed sets her hot-foot to London to find the only person she has left-her clever daughter Betty, who took work there at the first rumbles of war. But when she arrives, Betty's landlord, the timid Mr. Norris, informs her that Betty hasn't been home in days--with the chaos of the bombs, there's no telling what might have befallen her. Aghast, Mrs. Braithwaite sets her bullish determination to the task of finding her only daughter. Storming into the London Blitz, Mrs. Braithwaite drags the reluctant Mr. Norris along as an unwitting sidekick as they piece together Betty's unexpectedly chaotic life. As she is thrown into the midst of danger and death, Mrs. Braithwaite is forced to rethink her old-fashioned notions of status, class, and reputation, and to reconsider the question that's been puzzling her since her world overturned- How do you measure the success of your life? Readers will be charmed by the unforgettable Mrs. Braithwaite and her plucky, ruthless optimism, and find in The Spies of Shilling Lane a novel with surprising twists and turns, quiet humor, and a poignant examination of mothers and daughters and the secrets we keep.
All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams; Lauren Willig; Karen White
Call Number: FICTION Williams
France, 1914. As war breaks out, Aurelie becomes trapped on the wrong side of the front with her father, Comte Sigismund de Courcelles. When the Germans move into their family's ancestral estate, using it as their headquarters, Aurelie discovers she knows the German Major's aide de camp, Maximilian Von Sternburg. She and the dashing young officer first met during Aurelie's debutante days in Paris. Despite their conflicting loyalties, Aurelie and Max's friendship soon deepens into love, but betrayal will shatter them both, driving Aurelie back to Paris and the Ritz-- the home of her estranged American heiress mother, with unexpected consequences. France, 1942. Raised by her indomitable, free-spirited American grandmother in the glamorous Hotel Ritz, Marguerite "Daisy" Villon remains in Paris with her daughter and husband, a Nazi collaborator, after France falls to Hitler. At first reluctant to put herself and her family at risk to assist her grandmother's Resistance efforts, Daisy agrees to act as a courier for a skilled English forger known only as Legrand, who creates identity papers for Resistance members and Jewish refugees. But as Daisy is drawn ever deeper into Legrand's underground network, committing increasingly audacious acts of resistance for the sake of the country--and the man--she holds dear, she uncovers a devastating secret . . . one that will force her to commit the ultimate betrayal, and to confront at last the shocking circumstances of her own family history. France, 1964. For Barbara "Babs" Langford, her husband, Kit, was the love of her life. Yet their marriage was haunted by a mysterious woman known only as La Fleur. On Kit's death, American lawyer Andrew "Drew" Bowdoin appears at her door. Hired to find a Resistance fighter turned traitor known as "La Fleur," the investigation has led to Kit Langford. Curious to know more about the enigmatic La Fleur, Babs joins Drew in his search, a journey of discovery that that takes them to Paris and the Ritz--and to unexpected places of the heart. . . .