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Book Review of The Victory Garden

The Victory Garden
cyndij avatar reviewed on + 1031 more book reviews


I picked this up without really looking at the description except for the last sentence, it says something about "healing with herbs" leading to the "brink of disaster". I've read Rhys Bowen's mysteries and just assumed this would be one as well. But it's not a mystery, just a rather sweet coming-of-age novel set in the last year of WWI. The characters are nice, 21-year-old Emily rises above her upbringing to want something more than tea parties and a wealthy husband. She volunteers and becomes a "Land Girl", sent out with other women to take the place of men on the farms and in the fields. Otherwise not much historical detail except talking about all the men who were killed, and sometimes they mention rationing although there always seems to be enough to eat. I didn't know about Land Girls before, so that was cool. The herbal stuff was interesting although Emily teetering on the "brink of disaster" was pretty brief. All in all, a predictable, light sweet romance and a fast read with some interesting bits of history.