DEEP AND REFLECTIVE HISTORICAL FICTION ABOUT TRAUMA AND PTSD

When I started this book I was certain it was just going to be a run-of-the-mill mystery book with some WWII scenery thrown in for the heck of it. Which is fine, I enjoy those books as well. But this one surprised me in a good way because it offered something more, something deeper.

"Some people manage to bury the damage, but it can still break through."


👍 What I Liked 👍

Ending: I was pretty certain I had the ending all figured out. And in large part I did. But there was still a big surprise that not only really moved me but also felt extremely fitting.

Writing: Normally I don't often comment of writing unless something really sticks out - and here something did stick out. Because the writing was so easy and had such a great flow to it. It made reading through this book a comfortable and enjoyable breeze.

Research: As a historian I always care a lot about the amount of research that goes into a historical fiction novel. It was very obvious to me that Goldring did a lot of work when researching this book, which made it a lot more engrossing to read. I loved how how she illuminated a different aspect of WWII with focusing on the evacuated children of London. It made this a lot more original and engaging.

Mental health: Mental health is something I care deeply about and which is often left out of books or glossed over. Especially WWII books seem to neglect this, even though it is pretty clear, that many people, who were deeply affected by the war in one way or another, but have suffered from some kind of mental health issues. Here I really enjoyed that Goldring illuminated the effects of constant terror, bombings, death and war and focused on PTSD.

👎 What I Disliked 👎

Ruby: Sadly, Ruby was not my favourite character. She was passive, meek and naive and that just doesn't appeal to me. I understood why Goldring wrote her that way and the story wouldn't have worked if she was any other kind of character. They just aren't traits that I like in a character, so I never really warmed to Ruby.

This is a lovely dual time line (well, it really takes place in three time frames) tale of the impact of war on civilians. It's 2004 and Billie is surprised when she discovers her father must have had some sort of relationship with a dark haired woman named Ruby. But who was she? Turns out, Ruby was evacuated during WWII, along with her friend Stevie. Stevie struggles after the war but she remains devoted to him. Billie's dad, though, never forgets. This is a complicated plot to explain=and it's best you read it on your own to appreciate the nuance. Know that the characters are well done and sympathetic. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Fans of historical fiction will appreciate this one not only for the storytelling but also for the niche subject matter.

An interesting book and I very much enjoyed Ruby's story, especially when she was evacuated and lived with Mrs Honey. So often we hear horror stories from evacuees, so I was pleased that Ms Goldring didn't take this, easy path. Once Ruby was back in London and she and Stevie had found each other again it seemed like there was going to be a happy ending. However, Stevie goes to do his National Service and returns with an entirely different personality. That aspect felt somewhat contrived to me, along with the fact that his sister wouldn't get involved. Anyway, no spoilers here but I didn't feel an ounce of sympathy for Stevie and couldn't have cared less whether he felt guilty or not. I wasn't sure what drove his daughter Billie to investigate, but she did and the unpleasant story revealed did nothing to endear me to Stevie's character. I quite enjoyed the story if I didn't think about it too deeply but felt the situation was too manufactured to be credible.

This dual timeline novel blends wartime history with present-day perfectly so that the reader becomes equally involved in both Ruby's story and Billie's search to find out more about her. I liked the way this story highlights the position of women in society and the hardships they had to endure. It would have been remarkable with the ending I expected but the twist makes it even more memorable and leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction that I honestly wasn't expecting.

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Suzanne Goldring's latest heartbreaking historical novel THE GIRL WITHOUT A NAME.

"She left home, with the man she loved, and was never seen again..."

Wow! Where do I even begin? Suzanne Goldring never fails to disappoint. As with all her books, I was captivated from the very first page right up until the very last...and even then the story will remain with me. THE GIRL WITHOUT A NAME has a little of everything - history, romance, mystery, tragedy, love, loss - all woven together by the deft hand of its author. And it is hard not to be touched by Ruby's story.

August 2004: Seventy-seven year old Dick Stevens sits down with his lunch when the news flashes on the TV. A devastating flood has hit the West Country not seen since 1952 and Dick is transfixed to the images on the screen as he is suddenly drawn back into the past. He points to the screen and cries "Ruby!" before an excruciating pain in his head renders him limp and lifeless, his eyes still seeing the horrifying images before him - both past and present. This is how his eldest daughter Billie finds him, slumped in his chair, the images still playing out on the screen. He points to them but all he manages are the unintelligible sounds "Roo...eey".

Whilst her father recuperates from his stroke in the care home, Billie discovers some old black and white photographs...one of which was of a young woman secreted in the back of his wallet. She doesn't recognise her and her father is unable to speak clearly enough to identify her, but it is not her mother. The photographs, some of which she has seen before but knows nothing of the story behind them, are from a time before her parents met. Some when her father was a child and some from his time in the National Service, something he never speaks of.

When Billie shows her father's sister, Joan, the photos she is able to determine one of them as a school photo taken just after they were evacuated to Devon during the early part of the war. The young woman in the other photo from her father's wallet Joan identifies as Ruby Morrison, a young girl she was billeted with in Devon and whom her father (known as Stevie) had befriended. She estimated that Ruby was about 16 in the photo which would have been around the time Stevie served in Palestine with the National Service. But why did her father still carry a photo of a girl he used to know? Had she been a girlfriend? And where was she now?

Billie knows nothing of her father's early life and with these photos in hand, she decides to try and uncover the mystery.

Devon 1939: The beginning of World War II saw children evacuated to the country to protect them from the impending onslaught of German bombs and ten year old Ruby Morrison was amongst those being relocated. Disappointed that her two best friends Grace and Joyce were not joining her, she found herself clinging to a friendly older girl who took her under her wing. Upon reaching Devon, families from far and wide came to view the children and choose the ones they wanted but still Ruby clung to her new friend Joan who assured her they would be billeted together. Joan's younger brother Stevie was picked off by a grumpy looking farmer's wife with another strapping young lad and they rode off together on the back of the farm truck, excited by their new adventure. But Ruby remained by Joan's side and the two girls were taken in by the kindly Mrs Honey.

Life in Devon was in complete contrast to that which Ruby had known in London. Here they had the vast countryside, fresh air and green hills as far as the eye could see. Mrs Honey even kept chickens that kept them in ample supply of eggs which were otherwise rationed and replaced by the powdered kind. Despite rationing, food was fresh and not in as short supply as it was in London and Ruby grew used to the fresh vegetables they had daily in stews and soup Mrs Honey cooked up. So when her mother came down to Devon for Christmas and suggested she return home as there had been no bombs, Ruby feared that she would have to leave her new home behind. But Ruby didn't want to return to London.

But sadly the following year, Ruby's mother was killed in the Blitz and her aunt Ida came down to Devon to collect her and took her back to London without even saying goodbye to Joan. Her aunt Ida and uncle Reg ran a pub called the Victoria and Albert so there were none of the home comforts she had known in Devon living above the pub. Before long, Ruby becomes an unpaid skivvy to her aunt as she is expected to wash and dry glasses and sweep the sticky floors on a daily basis. However, things seemed brighter when she runs into Stevie, whom she'd met in Devon, and together they would sneak off to the pictures on the afternoons her aunt thought she was at the library. And what began as friendship soon turns to love.

When Stevie joins the National Service at the end of the war and is sent abroad to Palestine, Ruby writes to him constantly and his replies are filled with anecdotes and love. But then his letters begin to dwindle and he no longer signs them with "all my love" or "your Stevie". Then Ruby discovers he has returned and never came to see her, but nothing would prepare her for what she was about to witness. Her Stevie, her one true love, the one she was saving herself for...broke her heart. Ruby walked out and never saw him again for some five years.

And when she did, it was like the flame had never gone out. Her Stevie was back. But was he really? Was he the same man that had left her for Palestine five years ago? The same boy she met in Devon? The same boy who had promised to build her a doll house? But Ruby believes that only she understands Stevie like nobody else can.

And all she wanted was the boy who promised to build her a dollhouse. But war changes people.

Alternating between the past and the present, THE GIRL WITHOUT A NAME is a heartwrenching story of Ruby's coming of age through wartime Britain, her first love and all the emotions and experiences that come with it. But it is also Billie's journey for the truth in her desperate need to uncover the secrets her father has kept buried for over 50 years. When she comes across some old newspaper clippings her father has kept in a box at the back of her wardrobe detailing a devastating flood in Devon in 1952, she begins to wonder if the more recent flood has brought up memories of her father's past.

Contrary to its title, THE GIRL WITHOUT A NAME is kind of a misnomer because you only discover the reason behind the title towards the end of the book. It isn't the main story as such but it is an important link.

I never tire of Suzanne Goldring's beautifully told historical novels and I thought it would be tough to top her debut "My Name is Eva" which was beyond brilliant, but I have to say that THE GIRL WITHOUT A NAME comes pretty damn close.

As well as being a well written and beautiful historical tale, the book also illustrates what was then known as "shell shock" or "battle fatigue" but what we now call PTSD. Men didn't talk about their experiences or their emotions that went with them, and instead they turned to alcohol, women or violence. This was illustrated early on in the book with the farmer who violently abused Stevie, scarring him both physically and emotionally. The farmer had suffered in the Great War and as a result became an angry violent brute. Stevie's experience with "battle fatigue" was different, but it was brutal all the same.

Suzanne Goldring's writing style is easy to read and all of her characters are well developed. It is so easy to get swept up into the story and lose yourself completely within the pages. I laughed, I cried and I cheered along with the characters. I even wanted to smack a couple.

The two timelines are woven together seamlessly bringing the reader to a surprising and thought-provoking ending which I did not see coming. THE GIRL WITHOUT A NAME is captivating, compelling and heartbreaking at times but on the whole is a heartwarming read that will be sure to evoke emotion.

Absolutely brilliant read, I thoroughly recommend THE GIRL WITHOUT A NAME to fans of historical wartime fiction.

I would like to thank #SuzanneGoldring, #NetGalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheGirlWithoutAName in exchange for an honest review.

August 2004. Dick Stevens is found slumped in his chair by his daughter Billie, he can’t speak, he’s desperately trying to tell her something and Billie can’t understand him. He’s had a stroke and taken by ambulance to hospital, once her dad’s stable Billie gathers his things and she notices he has an old crumpled photo in his wallet. Billie is Dick’s eldest daughter, she knows the young lady in the photo isn’t her mum and who is the mystery woman?

September 1939. The children from Christchurch school are being evacuated to the country, Ruby Morrison is on the train with Joan and Stevie Sevens, the children are at first rather excited going on a trip and then they start to feel very anxious and nervous. They haven’t been to Devon before, Joan and Ruby stay together with a lovely older lady and poor Stevie isn’t as lucky.

The Girl Without A Name has a dual timeline it flows well between 2004, 1939 and into the early 1950’s in England. Billie is determined to discover father’s connection to the young woman in the photo, is she his friend Ruby and did they have a relationship before he married her mum? Stevie had a terrible experience as an evacuee, he returned home to London, here he worked as a teenage messenger during the bombing raids and when he turned 21 he was sent to Palestine to do his national service.

I haven’t read a lot about how people coped with what happened to them as children during WW II, it must have had a huge impact on the rest of their lives; by reading the book it makes you very aware of how a series of traumatic experiences can change a child, especially their behavior and morals! The Girl Without A Name, is a story with a very different perspective or insight into children evacuees experiences during WW II, what damage it did to a child’s soul and it’s so sad it happened to a whole generation of English children. The plot had so many twist and turns and the ending took me totally by surprise and five stars from me.

I am in love with this story. That's all I have to say. I was taken on a rollercoaster of emotions to the point that I feel like I need closure. Right from the start, this book gripped me. I couldn't put this book down even though my eyes couldn't stay open any longer. You just need to read this book. I don't know how else to express this feeling I am feeling right now.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book and review it.
#TheGirlWithoutaName #NetGalley

Told in dual time lines, the girl without a name begins in 2004 when Billie finds her father after he has suffered a stroke, he is trying to say a name and her interest is even more piqued when she finds an old black and white photograph in his wallet. Who is this dark-haired girl? She looks happy in the picture. Why has her father secretly kept her picture in his wallet?

In 1939/1940, the bombs have fallen on London and many are sending their children away. Ruby has met Stevie and they form a close bond which turns to romance. When Stevie is sent abroad, they communicate via letters but Ruby soon finds that Stevie has changed.

As Billie tries to piece together her father's past, she becomes intrigued with Ruby, the dark-haired girl in her father's picture. With her Aunt's memories, she learns the girl’s name is Ruby and she begins to get an inkling about who Ruby was and what she meant to her father.

The book piqued my interest from the very beginning. I found all the women to be interesting characters except for one. If you read this, you may have a good idea who I am referring to. The book also looks at the effects of trauma, PTSD, abuse and war. This book is also about love, friendship, hope, fear, bravery, betrayal and new beginnings. You may not like the actions of some of the characters. You may not approve of their choices or behaviors. Will you be moved by the trauma these child evacuees endured? Will it affect how you feel about the actions they take as adults? Will you admire the courage that some show? Will you be moved by other character's kindness?

I also appreciated how Billie's character learned that her father was more than just her father, he was a man with a past which she knew nothing about. I liked this aspect of her realizing that she really did not know her father at all. She knew what type of father he was, but did she know what kind of man he was?

I found this book to be well written and I thought she did a wonderful job weaving the two timelines and did not see the ending. Thought provoking, captivating and heartbreaking at times, it was an enjoyable read which evoked emotion.

This was my first book by Suzanne Goldring and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

I received a copy of this book from Bookouture and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I enjoyed this
Easy to read - the twist at the end was great

Would recommend

I am sad to say . This book was just ok for me. I liked that IT was a little bit more realistic about what happened under the war. You get the more.gory glimps about ww2. I did not like the Main characters well except when they were young. I thought the female character was too weak and the male character was a douchebag. I liked the surprising ending Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest opinion and thank you to the publisher bookouture

The Girl Without a Name by Suzanne Goldring
Publication Date: November 5, 2020
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Description from NetGalley...
“She left home, with the man she loved, and was never seen again…

August 2004. Billie has rushed to her father Dick’s hospital bedside. A terrible stroke has robbed him of his speech, and she is devastated to see her strong, invincible dad a shell of the man he was before. But when Billie finds a crumpled black and white photo in his wallet of a smiling, dark-haired girl she doesn’t recognise, Dick frantically tries to talk. Billie knows that he is trying to tell her something important, and she must ask the questions her father cannot. All she has to go on is the name he is just able to mumble. Ruby.

September 1940. As the bombs of the Blitz fall on London, childhood sweethearts Ruby and Stevie are falling in love. United by a shocking experience when they were evacuees, Ruby believes that she understands Stevie like nobody else can. But then Stevie is sent abroad, to a dusty and dangerous place… As Ruby waits, desperately, for letters with foreign stamps that never come, she begins to fear that the man she fell in love with is lost forever. And when Stevie does return, he is changed, and Ruby must make a difficult choice.
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Thank you to @NetGalley @bookouture for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
I enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and the two timeline worked well. The writing style was easy to read. I got caught up in the story and the characters. I can tell you that Ruby and Stevie’s story children were heartbreaking and heartwarming; Ruby and Stevie as adults were frustrating (especially Billie - unacceptable actions Stevie! And Ruby, you were no angel either) and there were twists and turns to a satisfactory and shocking ending. This is my first book from Goldring. Her description of the war and the circumstances were written and described well.

An enjoyable read with a real twist at the end.
Just loved the twin time aspects of the story.
It was very evocative of the time.
The historical aspects regarding the experiences of evacuees and the Lymouth flooding brought a hidden depth to the story.
Can’t recommend it enough

I didn't know what to expect but I really enjoyed this. The writing style was easy to read and I somehow felt the jumps in time from Ruby being a young girl to a young woman. That kind of timeline combined with a dual timeline of present day could make for a jarring experience, but it wasn't. I could keep up just fine with the back and forth timelines and they complimented each other well.

I thought this was going to be a sweet story about two kids that fell in love and parted ways due to the war. In one aspect, it was, but it was also a lot more than that. It dances between love and infatuation and makes you think about what love is and what it should be.

I found myself getting increasingly angry as I read this because of Stevie's treatment of Ruby and as I got closer and closer to the end of the book, I was so freaking annoyed that he seemed to just get away with everything. Well, maybe not entirely since the book starts off with him having a stroke, but you know what I mean. I was so happy and relieved by the time I got to the end. That's not how I thought things were going to go and I thought it was such a peaceful ending that made me reflect more on love.

Overall, a pleasant read that was surprisingly satisfying.

Ruby is sent to Barnstaple during the war in order to keep her safe from the bombings in London. She is placed with Mrs. Honey along with an older girl, Joan. Joan's brother, Stevie, is at another farm and Ruby has a crush on Stevie. After her mom is killed by a bomb her Aunt Ida takes her back to London. Ruby is living above their pub. Aunt Ida sounds nasty and only cares for herself and what work Ruby can do to make her life easier. Ruby reconnects with Stevie and they fall in love but when Stevie comes back from his National Service he is a changed man and they break up.

One afternoon Dick is watching the news and sees a flood in Boscastle and he remembers a flood from 1952 in Lynmouth. It upsets him so much and when his daughter, Billie, finds him he has had a stroke. When she takes his wallet from him she finds a hidden picture of a young girl and determines to find out who she is and why it upsets him so.

I found the characters pretty well developed. Ruby and Joan were lucky to be placed with Mrs. Honey and they thrived in her environment. Ruby was a gentle soul who was orphaned early but she never became bitter but continued to strive for a better life. Stevie was a tragic figure having been sent to that farmer who was brutal to the children put with him and Stevie ran away and went back to London where he would go into bomb sites hoping to find coins left behind. He had a passion for life and always looking for an adventure. Billie was a little less defined. She was tenacious in trying to get to the root of what upset her father but her eating and weight was brought up a lot and I'm not sure why.

London during the war was depicted well I thought with the bombed out buildings and then the restructuring. The life in Barnstaple seemed enviable even though the work was hard there was a rhythm to everything they did.

There is a bit of a mystery involved when Billie reads about an unidentified woman who died in the 1952 flood and there were a couple of surprises that I didn't see coming.

I would recommend this book to friends.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me the opportunity to read this story.

Thanks to Net Galley and Bookouture for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
This is historical fiction,
Ruby as a young girl is sent to Devon during the war to escape the London bombings. Ruby loved the countryside, her adoptive home the good food and the people she came across
Sadly her mother was killed during the bombings in London and Ruby was brought back to live with her aunt and uncle, not many home comforts living above their pub. Things seem brighter when her friend Stevie whom she met in Devon, their friendship turns to love.
Alas though he broke her heart and took advantage of her again a few years later.
The other half of the story is told by Billie who is caring for her elderly father, who has kept a photo of a young woman in his wallet for many years, he has a stroke and can’t communicate, seeing the photograph upsets him, bu Billie digs further into her fathers past to find out why he has been carrying this photo around and that how the two stories come together.
The ending was totally surprising, socking and sad all at the same time
3.5 stars

Very enjoyable dual timeline novel. Readers who enjoy WWII fiction will like this story. It was interesting to read about Ruby and Stevie's situations when sent to the country. Stevie's life had tragic parts but also he was not very likeable in other instances. Love the twist at the end.

I can't get over how good this book was. The Girl Without a Name filled me with so many emotions. Emotions such as hatred and fear, to heartbreak. Then finally to acceptance.

A page-turner for sure as you are transported back and forth between past and present. You follow the lives of Ruby and Stevie from childhood during WWII, to modern day adulthood and beyond.

Sandra Goldring's in depth research, character development, and plot execution has made me a big fan. An excellent read. Five amazing stars. I loved it!

I received a digital ARC from Bookouture through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Thank you to Sarah Hardy for inviting me to read this book. I was trying to reduce my blog tour commitments ready for returning to work, but the synopsis of the book hooked me and I quickly said yes.

Three characters tell this story, Nick (aka Stevie), his daughter Billie and Ruby. Billie is trying to find out who the girl is from the photo in her Dad’s wallet.

We are taken back in time, initially to 1939 as the children of London are evacuated to the countryside. This was my favourite part of the story, as told by Ruby. Mrs Honey, who hosted Ruby and Joan sounded lovely, but sadly this wasn’t the case for all evacuees. As the story moves forward, we find out more about how Ruby ended up back in London and what happened when Stevie went to Palestine with the British Army.

This is a no spoiler review, so I don’t want to give any hints about what happens. I enjoyed the story, as we travelled through the different era with Stevie and Ruby. We also keep returning to Billie, who loves her dad and wants to find out what happened to his first sweetheart. I hadn’t predicted the end, but once I read it, I was pleased that I was wrong. If you enjoy historical fiction, then I recommend reading this.

An emotional book to read with lots of twists and turns. I kept reading wanting to find out what happened to Stevie. As it was l did enjoy finding out and do recommend it to be read.

This was a really well done book!! It is perfect for anyone who loves historical fiction. It is richly done and has a really nice way of connecting the present to the past.