Whilst I haven't read A.J Pearce's first novel, Yours Cheerfully is a delightful piece of historical fiction that simultaneously feels cosy like a warm hug and hot chocolate, but also shows you the harsh realities of wartime working and discrimination against women.

Based at Women's Friend magazine, Emmeline Lake is a journalist who helps write an advice column called Yours Cheerfully. Along with her editor Guy Collins, Emmy attends a meeting at The Ministry which has targeted all female-related press to help bolster women and to recruit them for war work - to do jobs left behind by those who've gone to fight, or to work in factories that will aid the soldiers. Emmy befriends a working mother, Anne Oliver, who struggles after the death of her husband to look after her two children and work full-time in a munition factory. Together with stories from Anne, Emmy sets to writing a series of pieces to uncover what the war work is actually like.

Bravo to A.J. Pearce for creating a menagerie of characters who are all so well-rounded and developed. Emmy is likeable, charming and a bit of a go-getter, whilst her best friend Bunty is resourceful and supportive. Particular kudos goes to Anne's daughter Ruby who is just a delight and brings a needed light-heartedness to the realities of war; loss, rations, struggling conditions. It cleverly shows the discrimination women faced during the war, and the changes being put in motion to make it a fairer working world for them. Ultimately this was joyous, uplifting and warm and the escapades of Emmy and co. as World War 2 progresses. It oozes heart and likeability and has an undertone of poignancy, cleverly capturing the frustrations of women who want to play their part but are stopped by men who act indifferently or do little to help them.

Yours Cheerfully by A.J.Pearce is the most charming historical novel and the second book in the Dear Mrs Bird series. I recommend reading book one first as the second book starts where Dear Mrs Bird ended in 1941 and is a continuation.
The war is at its height. As the men go off to fight, the women must step into their factory roles. The women are all keen to do their bit but they face the problem of childcare. For war widows the situation is dire, there were no widows pensions, if they didn’t work, they couldn’t eat.
In spite of the hardships the women pull together to campaign for government childcare. There is a wonderful camaraderie. Emmy, whom we met in book one, is rapidly establishing herself as a serious journalist with a social conscience.
Ever as the war continues, ordinary life happens too. A wedding is big news as everyone pools what they have in order to make it a day to remember.
The characters are so warm and welcoming, they make the reader smile. I adored four year old Ruby with her unique mannerisms of speech.
I absolutely love this Dear Mrs Bird series. I am hoping there are many more books to follow.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

I absolutely loved this book. I had enjoyed Dear Mrs Bird, but I think this was better. I enjoyed the insight into working women’s life during the Second World War and actually learnt a bit about some of the challenges they faced.

The characters are all lovely and just so likeable. I loved Emmy and Bunty and how well drawn their friendship was.

In short, it’s just great. Really jolly and joyful. As I read it I kept thinking of people I needed to buy it for once it’s published.

Thank you so much for my review copy in return for this honest review.

I really enjoyed reading Dear Mrs Bird so I was delighted to get an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley of this sequel.It definitely didn’t disappoint ,as it continued the story of Emmy ,Bunty and the Woman’s Friend magazine.This book deals more with the war effort as it related to working women, and said a lot about the treatment of women with children working in munitions factories as they struggled to provide for their children while their husbands were fighting abroad.
I love the style of writing and the turn of phrase which is very much of its time.I also love the can-do attitude of Emmy and Bunty- we could learn a lot from them now!
Reading this was a treat ,and just what I needed to lift my spirits.Highly recommended!

5/5 stars for this lovely book. Often follow up novels can be slightly disappointing but this is NOT the case. This is such a feel good and uplifting read. Beautifully written, full of hope and just the tonic we all need at the moment. If you’ve read Dear Mrs. Bird and loved it as much as I did then this book is like seeing your best friend after a long time, it will make you smile, laugh, cry and lift your heart.

After enjoying Dear Mrs Bird a few years back I was excited to see a sequel on Netgalley. I love Emmy as a character - a bit scatty but always with best intentions at the forefront of everything she does.
This follows her as her career at Women’s magazine continues - they are encouraged to recruit women for the war effort but when she sees the struggles these women are facing when their husbands and families are away fighting; she deciedes to try and make a change.
A great read with a lovely narrative tone.
Definitely worth a read!
Thank you to A J Pearce, Netgalley & Picador for the chance to read this ARC.

This is the second book about Emmy and her job at the Woman's Friend magazine. I'll come clean and say that I didn't read the first one - Dear Mrs Bird - and it just didn't appeal really. I think I had a bit of a prejudiced view about what it would be like: it belongs to a certain genre of women's fiction and so many of those books are a bit samey.
But a free review copy of this was offered so I thought why not? And I'm so glad I tried it. It is not samey at all! The author has a lovely voice, fresh and original and very evocative of the 40s (not that I was alive then but I can imagine!) It's a really delightful tale. The only drawback for me was the sheer number of characters - I did lose track a little of who was who in the offices of the Woman's Friend.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this book and have now bought Dear Mrs Bird and a copy for my mum who I'm sure will love it too.

I read AJ Pearce’s Dear Mrs Bird when it came out and I was charmed by how I was transported to London during the Blitz. I adored the book and tried to find other similar books to capture that mood again. I failed to find anything that even slightly compared and so I was beyond delighted to discover that AJ Pearce had written a sequel. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this lovely book and I am so glad.

Yours Cheerfully contains all of the charm of Dear Mrs Bird, and lots more too. The reader is taken further into the realities of living during the war. The struggles faced by the young men all being away at war and the women trying their best at home. You fear for bad news along with the women, you feel outraged at what they have to deal with. The characters are wonderful, the women share strong friendships and they are principled and prepared to fight for what is right. The men are almost all supportive and delightful. Naturally there are some less nice people that try to derail progress, but the lead characters don’t let them stop them.

The second half of this book has you on the edge of your seat - will they make it - and the ending leaves you keen to know what will happen to them next. I was delighted to read on Instagram that AJ Pearce is writing book 3, I really would like to follow these characters through the rest of the War.

I can’t recommend this enough. If you loved Dear Mrs Bird, you will love this even more. If you haven’t read Dear Mrs Bird I recommend that you do so immediately.

I adored Dear Mrs Bird so I was very excited to read this and I absolutely loved it. What a joy to read.

I have been so excited to read this book since I found out Dear Mrs Bird was getting a sequel! I was not disappointed in the slightest, Yours Cheerfully really lived up to it's predecessor

This is a sequel to Dear Mrs Bird so although you could read this as a standalone its so much better if you read that first. We follow Emmy in this novel and the staff who remain at the magazine. Plenty of insight into character and the war effort. I love the characters and their names = Bunty and Emmy to mention just two - and it's a delight to get to know more about them.

Having read the first book I was very keen to read the second and hoped it would be as good and I was not disappointed.
The story continues on from the first book and develops the characters that we loved in the first story. The focus this time is far more on women working during the war and tells a really great story and shines a light on the issues that were faced at the time.. The issues are still reflected in todays society and it is great that this books shows that the disparities in work existed then and yet still little has changed.
The story and characters really keep the book alive and it is easy to see why this will be equally as successful as the first book. Highly recommended.

If you loved Dear Mrs Bird, I can guarentee that you will love this book! I actually think its better but thats just my opinion.
We rejoin Emmy and Bunty as they meet new people and face new challenges that the war brings.
Alot of books based around the war tend to be from the perspective of the concentration camps or the actual fighting. I love that this book (and Dear Mrs Bird) approach the war from a different angle and discusses the challenges that those left at home face day to day. I really hope there is a third book and we can follow Emmy and Bunty to the end of the war.
Once I finished this book, I posted on Facebook that this is the type of book that you want to hug to your chest and just take a few minutes to appreciate its brilliance. 24 hours later, I still feel the same way!

When I saw that there was a follow up to Dear Mrs. Bird; a book with characters that are all very dear to me, I nearly jumped through the roof. I could not contain my joy and excitement. But as is the case with many sequels, there is always a little bit of worry involved. Had the author up and changed the characters, will you love this one as much as the first, will it be a disappointment?
I am happy to report that there was not even an ounce of disappointment, this may even be my favourite of the two. Favourite characters have returned to the page in full pluck and colour, expanding and becoming more real as this story helped colour them in even more. I absolutely loved the plot of this addition to the Emmiline Lake series. Woman’s friend has continued to grow, Emmy has grown as a character and her story has taken a few interesting turns. I loved how fun and lighthearted certain scenes were, with the craziness of war time life it depicted, while still showing the sad and heartfelt moments that come with war. The loss of life and the devastation it brings was not overlooked or shunted to the side in favour of humor, nor was it overpowering. It was placed perfectly and handled with care. I also enjoyed that the novel followed the women at home and how the war, the war effort, death of loved ones and still having to keep a brave face affected them. It is not often that the women left at home are the main focus of historical war novels, and I cannot express how wonderful this focus point truly was. It brings another perspective as well as an important facet of the war to life in a vividly, realistic manner.
Emmy and her loved ones had me cheering for them in Dear Mrs Bird, and in Yours Cheerfully they had me cheering along again, this time it just felt like I was returning home and cheering along a dear friend.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough and am so utterly pleased to have been able to read it before it’s actual release date. Do yourself a favour and pick it up as soon as it hits the shelves. It will truly only enrich your days spent reading it.

An absolute must read for fans of Dear Mrs Bird, this didn’t disappoint. For anyone who has felt hopeless over the past year, this novel will make you want to pull your socks up and get on with it. An uplifting story of war time grit, friendship and the power of community, a great read. Thanks NetGalley!

Dear Mrs.Bird was one of my favourite books the year it came out-witty, charming and poignant with wonderful characters. I loved the subtle coming of age, from the gung ho patriotism of the protagonist and her best friend volunteering , to the devastating effects of war. The sequel is even better, something I thought would be impossible.

Yours Cheerfully starts where Dear Mrs.Bird left off- World War II is still raging, Pearl Harbour hasn't happened yet, Mrs.Bird has left and the ever supportive Editor of Woman's Friend, Mr.Collins, has given Our plucky heroine, Emmy, more responsibilities- she's now getting advice on her agony aunt column from the empathetic Mrs. Mahoney and she's also been told she can write some pieces of interest for the magazine. I love that both these books focus on the effects of the war on the women in England , not something I've read otherwise, apart from Small Island. It's a time when there's a publicity blitzkrieg to get women To join factories, and to Do their Bit and so on. Emmy and her lovely best friend, Bunty, happen to meet one of these women, Anne, a war widow with little children, who's joined the munitions factory. Through her, Pearce explores a time period where there was a desperate need for women to join the workplace, but there weren't any institutional supports provided, such as childcare, and women had to do it all. The book is so riveting that I looked up the actual history, and this really did happen. In England, women in the workforce increased from around 4 million prewar, to nearly 8 million by the time the war ended. However, unions insisted that their employment be temporary, their wages be substantially lower, and the women not be allowed to unionise. They got their way, and women joined under these deeply unequal conditions, to workplaces where there weren't even restrooms available for them. Childcare is a major concern of working women now, and it was much harder back then. Through multiple agitations and local level protests, in 1941, the Government set up subsidised nurseries-1400 of them, compared to 14 up until then. Though there are several other aspects of being a working woman that Pearce writes about, one in particular stayed with me, where Emmy practises her smile to come across as warm and approachable with an interview subject but also not flirtatious. That's definitely something my husband would never even have to consider, that's something I do before every client meeting. The cast of characters are delightful as always- the old favourites Mr.Collins and Bunty, and we get to know Emmy's delightful boyfriend Charles a lot better. The standout for me, though, was the incredible sisterhood of the women in the munitions factory-they're so well written and memorable, each one a distinct character and not slotted into reductive stereotypes. Reading this book feels like getting a warm hug from a loved one you haven't seen in a long time- you're sniffly and crying, but by the end of it, you're smiling through your tears and you're happy. Hugely recommend this, and I really wish AJ Pearce would continue this as a series, I don't want to think that's the last I've heard of these delightful characters!

4+.

London, November 1941. It’s round two at Women’s Friend magazine and Mrs Henrietta Bird has moved on and so Emmeline Lake is assisting with the agony column renamed Yours Cheerfully. This is a definite stroke of luck for Emmy in light of The Unfortunate Hiccup. Magazine editors get a call to attend a meeting at The Ministry, so editor Guy Collins and Emmy trot along to be informed all have to help boost female war recruitment. Em and best friend Bunty meet and become friends with Mrs Anne Oliver who introduces Em to the realities of war work especially for those with children.

Well, I’m pleased to say ‘I’m not browned off’, this is not a ‘stinker’ (except for baby Tony’s nappies) and in fact this novel is absolutely ‘top drawer’. I love 30’s/40’s expressions so I’m all in!! Em is such a likeable character, she’s resourceful, clever and not at all a ‘flashy type’. Bunty, in recovery from injuries from a bomb blast and mourning the loss of fiancé Bill, is an absolute brick. Ruby, Anne’s daughter is fabulous in a tricky kind of a way but she makes you laugh. The characterisation is very strong and Em and Bunty come to feel like old friends. Even the unlikable one are well portrayed though you so want to punch factory owner Mr Terry right on his hooter. Hard. The novel is very well written, it captures the ‘there is a war on you know’ extremely well, such as the shortages as well as the tragedy of loss. I really like that this one focuses on the reality of women’s war work especially the tricky issue of finding child care. The women are discriminated against in more ways than one. The book strikes an excellent balance between demonstrating this and being joyous, happy and funny. I love the use of capitals to highlight points such as In It Together. The end is good, there’s happiness mixed in with a tinge of sadness.

Overall, a sweet, poignant, emotional and funny book and a most enjoyable read. It makes serious points but in a clever way.

With thanks to NetGalley and Pan McMillan, Picador for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearse.
I requested this ARC without realising it was a follow up to Dear Mrs Bird, which I loved. So delighted to reacquaint myself with Emmy, Bunty and all the other wonderful characters.
This novel is set in London in 1941. The ministry of Information has requested that the media use their influence to encourage women to help with the war effort. Emmy takes this on board and meets a group of women who work in a munitions factory and sees first hand the challenges they face.
Despite the bleak situation of WW2 this is a lovely, uplifting book. Likeable characters, great friendships and very British humour make it a great read. Can’t wait for no. 3 of The Emmeline Lake Chronicles.

A joy, or, in the words of Emmy or Bunty, absolutely top hole. As with Dear Mrs Bird, a glorious story filled with wonderful characters and charming humour. (You had me at the knitted brassieres.) My only complaint is a slightly abrupt ending - but this will absolutely be forgiven if it paves the way for more exploits with the new Mrs Mayhew.

I loved this author's previous book, Dear Mrs Bird, and Yours Cheerfully takes up where that one left off, following the same characters (minus the formidable Mrs Bird herself, who has thankfully departed for Pastures New) as the Second World War progresses. It was lovely to revisit Emmy and the gang - although as it's at least three years since I read the previous book, I had only a vague memory of what actually happened in it. I did recall that it concerned young Emmy Lake working, not without controversy, on the problem page of Woman's Friend magazine, under the not so benevolent dictatorship of Mrs Henrietta Bird.

Despite the title (which is the new name for the post-Mrs B. advice page), the page itself doesn't play a big role here. Instead, the magazine - along with other women's magazines - is asked by the government to urge their readers to help the war effort by taking up work in factories, etc. As part of this drive, and as a result of a chance encounter on a train, Emmy comes up with - and is delighted to be given the opportunity to follow through on - the idea for a series of articles following the experiences of women workers in a munitions factory. While doing so, though, she becomes all too aware of the difficulties and injustices faced by many of the women, who want and need to work but face insurmountable childcare hurdles and a lack of support from their employer. This forms a large part of the book as Emmy struggles to balance her desire to campaign for and with the women, with her remit to be unfailingly positive in print.

That makes it sound very serious, but it's an enormously readable, likeable and often humorous story with a highly engaging main character in Emmy. A sub-plot concerns her relationship with Captain Charles Mayhew, half-brother of her editor Mr Collins. (I have some thoughts about Mr Collins - we'll see what book three, assuming there is one, brings.)

A lovely, satisfying read which also taught me something about conditions for women workers, especially mothers and widows, during the war.