Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce (Audiobook)

 

It's 1941 and Emmeline Lake has ambitions to be a war correspondent. She is overjoyed when she sees a job advertised in the Evening Chronicle, little realising that she will be working for an "agony aunt" in a woman's magazine.

Dear Mrs Bird by  AJ Pearce is a lovely, light-hearted listen. The narrator pitched the tone perfectly and the style used by the author is very much in line with what we would expect for 1940s England.

Emmy Lake is the type of young woman who wants to break free of the societal norms imposed upon her, hence her dream of being a lady war correspondent. She's also willing to do her bit for the war effort and volunteers as a call handler for the London Fire Brigade. 

Emmy's new employer, Mrs Bird, is very much the opposite of Emmy. A formidable character, extremely set in her ways, she has a strict policy about the type of problems she is willing to feature on her problem page. Problems involving relationships are absolutely forbidden. Those problems that Mrs Bird does deign to answer can usually be solved by a "heart outlook and a brisk walk". It's this generational divide that sets up the story.

Vetting the letters that come into the office, Emmy is sympathetic toward many of the women who write in. She has issues of her own, having recently been dumped by her boyfriend, so she completely understands the plight of the magazine readers. This is combined with a time when topics such as  relationships and health were not openly discussed. It is easy to understand how Emmy reacts in the way that she does some of the distressing letters.

While the general tone of the story is light, we do get a glimpse of the danger the country faced, particularly in big cities such as London. At this stage in the war air raids are a common occurrence and people have become quite blase about them. The role of women in society is another issue the story tackles. During the war, women filled a considerable number of roles that were usually considered to be male roles, but still had to fight prejudice and were considered to be less intelligent than men.

Emmy is put through the wringer emotionally and the story leads to the inevitable confrontation with her boss, Mrs Bird. Thankfully things work out well and I look forward to more adventures for Emmy in the sequel, Yours Cheerfully.