I am still not sure what drew me to this book but, having read it, I offer my comments. An interesting start to the book which caught my interest and it held it for a short while longer. Then the inevitable "man" arrived to tempt and attract the "leading lady" and at that stage my interest started to wane. It continued to wane as the number of male relationships with the "heroine" increased and their interactions drifted in and out of the plot.

The plot would have held together very well with just the one male/female relationship as there was an established and strong story line and then I would, when I had finished The Girl with the Suitcase, been tempted to look for another of Lesley Pearse's tales.

In 1941 London, Elizabeth is enjoying a drink before leaving to start a new life in Ireland when a shy Mary joins her. As they chat, Elizabeth generously suggests Mary accompany her. Despite her harsh life as a housemaid, Mary feels uncertain about the idea. However, an air raid forces them into an underground shelter, dramatically altering Mary’s fate. Waking up injured but alive in the hospital, Mary is mistaken for Elizabeth by the nurse, who hands her Elizabeth’s suitcase containing money and tickets to Ireland. This unexpected turn offers Mary the chance to leave her struggles behind and begin anew. From this point onward we follow Mary's story as she becomes Beth.

This was an enjoyable and despite the setting a gentle read. Beth does have a lot to contend with and she seems to be able to weather the storm despite her tragic upbringing. My key criticism of the story was that it felt a bit saccharine with Beth constantly falling on her feet and meeting kind and generous individuals. I would have liked a bit more grit as Beth was quite flat character wise. With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this latest from a Lesley Pearse. I’ve been a fan for a long time however some of her later books I felt were a hit and a miss. However this is Lesley back to her best.

Love how the story spans such a long time and the many ups and downs the main character has to face just really makes you feel a connection to the hardship and hope that envelops Beth.

Really great book.

Thank you to Penguin publisher and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I’m sorry to give a three star review as I really like Lesley Pearse as an author, but I just don’t think this story is believable enough. There are elements of it that I enjoyed, the way that Mary’s life develops into Elizabeth’s in the beginning for example. However there are just too many saccharine sweet events of her falling quickly in love, both romantically and with new friends, and they falling in love with her just as swiftly. The backstory of Mary’s early years is rather predictable and overused, then affects her life later in an unbelievable manner - there is no explanation or credibility to her abuser discovering where she now lives, how he got to be there etc. Not a novel that I would have continued to read had it not been for need to review, or one that I will be recommending to others.

This was an easy read by Lesley Pearse who is quite a prolific author.
For me this one wasn’t up to the standard of her earlier books - but I have noticed this with her more recents works.
In parts it was slow and repetitive and sometimes the narrative didn’t fit at all. The main character Mary/Beth decided to go to Bristol - her brute of a ‘step father’ finds her there but there was no explanation as to why that should be the case. He was a hardened East Londoner after all.
For me the entire book lacked some credibility. It was enjoyable to read but only once you realised that the events didn’t follow a particular sequence. Some parts were predictable others surprising.
Even Mary/Beths final relationship after the loss of Jack with Harry was rushed - as though it was needed to finish off the book. There were plenty of opportunities to make more of this friendship that turned to love if some of the slower bits had been left out. I’m not sure I was meant to but one of the passages at the end actually made me laugh out loud - so quaintly and old fashionedly put !

Sadly I ended up feeling a little disappointed on the whole

A sad start for Mary who lives a life of poverty until a chance meeting with Elizabeth in a tea house changes her life forever. A book about resilience and kindness, sadness and happiness. I loved this story.

I always enjoy historical novels set in wartime as people were living through extraordinary times which often leads them to act out of character particularly when they are put in unusual situations.
As Elizabeth Manning sits people watching in Lyons Corner House in London she sees a young woman, Mary Price hovering uncomfortably just inside the door. She takes pity on her and beckons her to join her at her table as the restaurant is full. As they talk Mary tells Elizabeth that she has just been to an interview for a new job as a maid as she is unhappy in her present employment. As the conversation progresses Elizabeth confides that she has just inherited her godmother’s house in Ireland and she is travelling there the next day. On impulse Elizabeth asks Mary to go with her as she is a little apprehensive about going alone into the unknown. Mary has a lot in her past that she needs to escape from so she starts to consider that this may be a good way to escape her old life. As the air raid warning sounds the two girls go to shelter in the underground but tragedy strikes and Elizabeth is killed. When Mary is mistaken for Elizabeth she is faced with the dilemma of whether she should carry on the journey to Ireland as Elizabeth.
As Mary starts her new life as Beth and the reader learns more about her previous life it becomes clear that the old Mary was no chancer and deserves a new start even though guilt for her duplicity hangs heavy on her.
I really enjoyed reading about Beth’s journey and the difficulties she faced as she confronted many moral dilemmas. She was an easy person to love as can be seen by her relationship with her good neighbour, “Auntie Ruth” who mentored her in childhood so that she could get out of terrible home circumstances. Also later in her life she shows real compassion to elderly Rose who treats her as the daughter she never had and to whom Beth confides her life story.
The Girl with the Suitcase is an enthralling story with a satisfactory ending unlike many contemporary novels that I feel often end too abruptly. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in return for an honest review.

The opportunity to change your lifestyle comes around through mischance and misfortune . A mistaken identity after a wartime bombing incident leads to Mary leaving g a life of drudgery as a maid to a landowner in Ireland rags to riches

Not really the sort of novel I would normally read but I was attracted to as it was set during the Second World War.. it is a gentle book but confronts some serious issues including child abuse and the mind numbing poverty of the times.I was born near the end of the war and grew up in the post war austerity years but in a loving family and not in London. This story of a young woman’s escape from a troubled and abusive childhood is a story of hope and sometimes good fortune but contains much sadness. The heroine and one or two others may seem a little too goody goody in today’s world but I can relate this to people from my childhood in the !950,,’s and the social mores of the times are I believe fairly accurately portrayed.
I can see this book appealing to readers of Catherine Cookson and possibly becoming a to mini series.

I enjoyed the premise of this book and thought it was well written and the main characters really likeable, much like the authors other work. I did however find some of the scenes quite jarring and the detail didn’t fit in the book. For example the detailed reunion scene between the couple at the end of the book - I have no problem reading that but it was quite intense and out of context compared with the tone of the rest of the book! Overall at great read though.

London 1941. Mary Price has had a traumatic upbringing. A chance encounter with a young woman, followed by a tragic event, enables Mary to shed her past and embark on a new future, which leads her down a number of paths which will eventually lead her to happiness.
I enjoyed Mary's story. It may have been far-fetched at times, a little unrealistic perhaps, however, I found myself rooting for her nonetheless.

The queen of the sweeping saga does it again and delivers a belter of a read in The Girl With The Suitcase.
From blitzed East End London, to rural Ireland, to Bristol we are brought along on the riveting journey of Mary/Beth.
A real sliding doors moment gives Mary a chance of a better life.
Brilliantly observed, we follow the main character as she encounters poverty, abuse, loss, guilt, acceptance and love.
As always from the first line you’re immediately invested in the characters.
Lesley Pearse really is a master storyteller.

I found this to be an enjoyable and easy read, though it may not be my absolute favourite by Lesley Pearse. The story unfolds during World War II, spanning the United Kingdom and Ireland, and centers on Mary Price, a young woman who endured a horrific childhood. Her life takes a turn when she meets Elizabeth Manning on September 13, 1940, in London. The story involves two young women who share a striking resemblance: one is self-assured and daring, while the other is more reserved and uncertain.

A tragic event occurs, resulting in Elizabeth's death, which prompts Mary to shed her past and assume the identity of Beth Manning. We then follow her journey, from her meeting with Jack Ramsey to her relocation to Ireland, and taking possession of a house inherited by the real Elizabeth from a godmother. The story explores her challenges as an outsider, the unexpected loneliness she faces, and her moving to Bristol to live and work.

The story allows us to experience her life's joys and sorrows, as well as her internal conflict regarding her actions and her ultimate path to redemption.

It is an easy read that one can curl up with on a cold day.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

London 1941. When Mary meets a glamorous stranger named Elizabeth, she realises their lives couldn't be more different. Elizabeth is beautiful and charming and about to set off on a dazzling adventure to Ireland where she inherited a grand house. Mary, shy and meek, has nothing to look forward to but the dreary life of a maid in Hampstead. But when an air raid forces them to take shelter underground, Mary's life is suddenly changed forever. After waking up in hospital, injured but alive, the nurse mistakes her for Elizabeth and hands over her suitcase with Elizabeth's money and tickets to Ireland inside. This is Mary's chance to escape the hardship of her life and start afresh.

I'm a huge fan of Lesley Pearse and I've been disappointed with any of her books. I don;t know if I could pull off taking someone else's identity and everything that comes with it, but Mary was desperate enough to get out of her current situation. Mary has only known poverty and hard work. Now she has a chance at a better life in Ireland.

Published 3rd July 2025

I would like to thank #NetGalley #MichaelJoseph #PenguinRandomHouse and the author #LesleyPearse for my ARC of #TheGirlWithTheSuitcase in exchange for an honest review.

When a chance meeting in a coffee shop during the Blitz brings housemaid Mary and glamorous Elizabeth together, Mary has no idea her life is about to change forever.
An air raid bring their chat to an abrupt halt and when the shelter takes a direct hit Mary is knocked unconscious. When she wakes up in hospital it’s clear the staff think she is Elizabeth and that Mary is dead.
Deciding to take a risk for once Mary decides to become Elizabeth and enjoy the life they discussed in the coffee house before the raid. This one moment will change Mary’s life forever, in ways she could never have dreamed about.
This sweeping tale takes you from the horrors of London during the Blitz to the beauty and peace of the Irish countryside.
It’s a tale of love and friendship, of fear and hope and the power of the human spirit to keep going even when things seem hopeless.

Thanks so much for the early review copy.

Once again lesley has written a very good book, im not a reader of war dated books but lesley pearce I can read for hours.

Can't wait for more.

A very robust offering from Lesley Pearce, with reliable plot devices (changed identity, wartime London and pastoral Ireland) all playing their part to offer the reader a reasonably satisfying time in the company of the author’s characters. A harsh critic might quibble at the way in which things fall too easily into place, but it has to be the author’s prerogative to engineer events to suit the purpose of the plot.

It will be a hard to please reader who doesn’t settle into this novel to enjoy several hours of a suspended present to enjoy the way in which the unpredictabilities of wartime swirl around our lead character, Mary Price.

Recommended.

It is London 1941 ,Elizabeth Manning meets Mary Price when the air raid siren goes off and they go to the air raid shelter .Elizabeth is telling Mary about going of to Ireland where here godmother has left her her cottage in her will and asks Mary to go with her.Everything changes when the shelter is hit and Mary wakes up in hospital and the nurses think she is called Elizabeth Manning and give her back her suitcase.Mary then goes on a journey taking on the identity of Elizabeth and going to Ireland.We go through the ups and downs of what happens to Mary .Will she be found out or will she have a better life than she did?This was a great read .Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House.

"The Girl with the Suitcase" is a story of two strangers meeting and life taking a complete U-turn for them. As they are discussing their situations and plans a bombing raid (wartime London) sends them to the Underground for shelter. This is a tale of unexpected chances and whether or not it is morally acceptable to take advantage of them when you're living a lie. The contrast between the quiet countryside of Ireland and the stress (constantly under attack) and business of London is made clear. This is a thought provoking story, wonderfully written as are all Lesley Pearse's novels.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The first book I have read by established author Lesley Pearse. Starting with a 1940's timestamp and looking at some emotional times endured by a family but pulled together with a good ending. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.