A melancholic yet hopeful historical fiction novel

Set in the heart of WW2, we find our protagonist Josie yearning for something more than what her life holds. Married young, her husband is stifles the last flame of ambition for her life. When he's called up to serve for England, a series of unfortunate events forces Josie to seek a home in the countryside.

She is foisted on an unwilling host Miss Harcourt and has to learn to rebuild her life in unfamiliar surroundings. Slowly but surely, we see Josie start to blossom in her new setting, befriending the village folks and the servicemen from a nearby airfield. As her confidence grows, she even starts a new venture, winning over Miss Harcourt and starting to fall for the leader of the squadron. Just when her life starts to settle, more upheaval sends Josie down a desperate road once more...

A story of turmoil of life and the heart, Where The Sky Begins leads the reader to keep hoping for the best for Josie. Some of the twists and turns felt rather abrupt, some characters could have been more interesting in their intersection with Josie's life, and the end of the book felt extremely rushed.

A decent read but I wish this could have been a more fleshed out book!

Rhys Bowen is becoming a new favourite author of mine. I’d previously read and loved Above the Bay of Angels, as well as enjoyed a couple books of her Royal Spy cozy mystery series. With this new work of historical fiction, the author paints a dramatic and vivid picture of London during the German bombings of the Second World War, with a rich cast of characters and subplots. The writing style is rather addictive and the scenes feel as though they’re playing out like a film.

A must-read I can only highly recommend!

Josie Banks has a difficult marriage with her husband Stan. He’s terrifically jealous of her time, and would prefer she stay home rather than work or worse, have contact with other men. She ends up working anyway in a tea shop run by a Russian emigré, and gains great confidence from how well that goes, as well as from the support she gets from Madame Olga.

After Stan is drafted, and heads off, the Germans begin bombing London regularly, and then, terrible things happen: the tea shop is bombed and Madame Olga dies, then Josie’s home is destroyed, and she’s injured. As she has no loving family she wants to be with, she’s sent to the countryside with several child evacuees, and ends up in the large, cold and mostly unfriendly home of elderly Mrs. Harcourt and her unfriendly maid.

Gradually, Mrs. Harcourt warms up to Josie, who even successfully convinces the reclusive woman to use part of her home as a tea shop for the local RAF base. Josie successfully runs the place, and even unearths spies, and begins a romance with a squadron leader. More bad things happen, of course, before Josie gets a chance for happiness.

I enjoyed this. The historical details were great, particularly with respect to how much women had to take on with the war on, and the privations people experienced with bombings and rationing.

I thought there was almost a surfeit of bad and terrible things happening to Josie, but I really liked her pluckiness, entrepreneurship, perception and kindness.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Lake Union Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Where the Sky Begins is another wonderful World War II novel by Rhys Bowen. The story shows that class and social status aren't as important during war as times of peace and things are changing. London bombings leave people misplace and struggling.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I read everything WWII and especially when WWII is written by Rhys Bowen. As with other books by the same author, I was pulled right in and never came back up for air. I was there, in London with bombs falling around me, in the countryside with the crabby aristocrat, and alongside Josie as she found her way through a world full of unknowns.

I never forgot that this book was happening during a war but there was so much more to this book. The relationships that Josie managed to make are wonderful. The nurse in the hospital that makes sure that Josie gets out of London safely, the young children that she befriends on her trip to the countryside, and the town people in the town are all people that make a difference to Josie, they are friends that she did not have when she left London, they are people who look out of each other and include Josie in their circle of people who matter. These other people help Josie find a way to be happy during a time of so much hardship.

I’m not typically a reader who takes a books word simply by the cover. But there is something about this cover that pulls me in. I have sat entranced by it for far too long. Suffice it to say this is one book staying in my collection. Josie, I loved. Stan, I disliked. But both characters were essential to the story. And I love the idea of the tea shop.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley

Rhys Bowen is an international treasure. And her latest book lives up to the quality of her previous ones. Strong characters, interesting story. Couldn’t put it down. Thanks to #NetGalley and #WhereTheSkyBegins for advanced digital copy.

While I enjoyed reading about Josie Banks, a strong lead character, the story overall was not as interesting as I had hoped after reading this author's The Venetian Sketchbook. This was an easy read but a few of the plot lines, especially the one that introduces a spy associated with the airfield, were not well-fleshed out and appeared late in the book.

Where the Sky Begins was a bit predictable but could be enjoyable for readers of historical fiction. Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an advance copy.

Josie Banks is from a lower class family. She has to leave school at an early age to take care of her many younger siblings. She marries the first man who is interested in her in order to obtain a bit of freedom. Eventually the war comes to London. While Josie is home alone, a bomb falls on her flat. Josie loses everything. Along with the children who are evacuated to the countryside, Josie is also sent along. There she is forced to stay with an old recluse. Bit by bit, she is able to find a new life for herself in a house next to an aircraft base.

This book was full of fascinating details about life in England during WWII, such as how rationing worked and how someone might become a spy for the Germans. Rhys Bowen is a master at historical research. I always look forward to her books.

I gave this book 4 stars. I found it very enjoyable until the last 10%-15%. The ending felt a bit rushed and at the same time pat. I found Josie to be a strong woman who was not afraid of hard work who ultimately was able to create a new life for herself. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the free Advanced Reader’s Copy.

3,5 Rating
I liked the setting of the story and this is what intrigued me in the first place. Josie was a nice, warm character, even Miss Harcourt was sometimes tolerable and nice. I did not enjoy the writing style a lot but it was not bad either. I thought there would be a twist or some sort, but the story is just like the description. It follows Josie shortly before and after the bombing of her house. It was nice to see how she could change Miss Harcourt*s mind and open a teashop there. Sometimes I thought there were repititions like about her past or Kathleen's past, which was already mentioned got mentioned again. Nevertheless, I liked how it portrayed the struggles of women during the war and the difficulties they had to face.

I really enjoyed this book. Although it was set during WW2 it was slightly different from the usual ones. This one was set mainly in Lincolnshire and dealt with spies and tea shops and relationships. It mentions bombs and the death of relatives but it wasn’t all the way through the book which makes a nice change. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen is a beautifully written love story about war and survival. If you love historical fiction you will not be disappointed when you read this book.

London is enduring The Blitz. Josie Banks, whose husband has been drafted, finds a job at a local tearoom, run by Madame Olga, an expatriate Russian who is quite the interesting character. In someone else’s hand this might have turned into a story about the tearoom, Josie, Madame Olga, and the local denizens. And the story starts…

Instead, the tearoom is bombed flat. No more Madame Olga, and after another round of bombing, Josie, arm in a sling, is evacuated to the countryside. And the story starts….

This won’t be the last storyline started. By the time you’re in the book, you realize there are at least a half-dozen storylines running through the book, each interesting, and each calling for a resolution. Rhys Bowen plays these out, with the emphasis moving from the old estate and old woman, last of an earlier age, comes back to life as Josie brightens the world around her. There are the brave men and boys from the local RAF installation, evacuated and Kindertransport children making their way in a new and sometimes less than happy new world, the local doctor, and a very cranky Irish cook at the estate, whose stories begin and end in the shadow of the war.

Josie is the one constant throughout the book, almost becoming a force of nature to make everything around her better and happier. Once Josie takes the initiative, she almost surprises herself as to how much she’s grown, how much she’s learned, and how much she does not want to return to the life she had before. She’ll make some decisions that at the time appear to be “the only and right thing to do” which drive home how trapped she feels.

Somehow, Rhys Bowen weaves the threads together, and ends each, some happily, and some not so, and makes it all work. By the end, all involved are where they should be, and no thread left dangling. My only complaint about the storyline is a coda and side trip before the major storyline ends. Other than that, “Where The Sky Begins” is a very enjoyable read.

Highly Recommended: 4.5 stars

I’ve read a fair bit of historical fiction and while I love learning about the covert operations women have been involved in, I love the glimpse of the daily life of those who are left to make do. Josie finds a way to make the most of her bad situation, making friends and gathering fans along the way. She adds sunshine to an otherwise bleak day/month/year for those around her despite the circumstances. It was wonderful to get to know these brave souls who had no choice but to carry on during the war. Highly recommended for when you need a good read with a little humor in it.

Where The Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen is an entertaining novel about a woman in England during World War II. When Josie’s husband, Stan, leaves for war, Josie must find herself a job. She comes upon one in a Russian Tearoom, odd given the level of society in the area. She convinces the old lady to give her a chance and before long she has the place shining. Then, the bombs started falling, and the tearoom is hit and her mentor killed. She sees to her burial and retrieves the paste rings she had always worn, more for remembrance than anything. She has to find a job, but before that happens a bomb drops on her house. She had taken to sleeping under the kitchen table as she could not face the bomb shelters. This night it was the table that saved her, but had trapped her beneath it until she caught the attention of some of the men looking for survivors. They got her to he hospital where they said she had a concussion and a broken collarbone. They kept her there as long as the could but eventually they sent her to a convent. She was nervous but the nuns turned out to be very nice, and got her on the list to be evacuated to the country. There, her life began.

Josie was a creative, intelligent, outgoing person who made friends wherever she went. She is a well-written, with far from a peaches and cream life. She often found herself places where no one wanted her but she was able to turn that around. She made friends with everyone she ran into. War was difficult for everyone and Josie was no exception. She lost people, like everyone else, but helped them and herself weather the storms. Things worked out for her when she fell in love with a RAF pilot, but when her husband returned, it looked like it was back to the city for her. She had grown to love the country and dreaded her return to the city, not to mention the nightly bombing raids. But, she had to do what was right, so she dug in, as always, and moved forward. A terrific story with lots of twists and turns and the real story of the toll war takes.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Where the Sky Begins by Lake Unions, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #lakeunion #rhysbowen #wheretheskybegins

Where the Sky Begins is a World War II mystery. Josie Banks is a bombed out Londoner who is forced to move to the countryside. As Josie gets her footing in her new surroundings, she realizes that all may not be as idyllic as if it seems.

Where the Sky Begins is certainly readable and the story unfolds interestingly enough. The ending, however, seemed a bit rushed and read more like a summary. There were some plot lines that didn’t ring true to the era of the setting. If you don’t mind bending the past a bit to make the plot more interesting and are a fan of historical fiction mysteries then you will love this one. If you prefer your historical fiction a bit more realistic to the time then you will probably want to skip this one.

Thank you @netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rhys Bowen never ceases to amaze me! Each story so different than the last. I haven’t read many books based of London for WWII, In “Where the Sky Begins” I enjoyed the countryside they all had to move to for safety. I am a huge fan!

Captivating and gripping!

You have no idea how much I loved this story, it was breathtakingly beautiful. This is my first book from this author, I have no idea why, but good thing I can rear from her backlist. All the stars to this one!

Thank you Lake Union Authors for this gifted copy.

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World War II London, bombs are falling and Josie is left homeless. Not in contact with her husband, Josie finds herself in the English countryside, in the home of Miss Harcourt who has opened her house to WWII survivors. Opening a tea shop let's Josie make her effort towards the war as well as to her own heart.

I had a difficult time getting into this book. It had potential, but was very slow paced in my opinion. Maybe I'll give a second go sometime later.