Synopsis
Norfolk, 1919
The war is over, but the effects of it are ever-present in the village of Wolferton. At just two miles from Sandringham House, the private residence of British monarchs, the people of Wolferton have a special connection to the royals – particularly the family of the royal station master, Harry Saward. But their privileged position and access to the royal family do not lessen the devastating impact of war on the Saward girls. Maria’s fiancé, Eddie, is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Ada’s husband, Alfie, has lost his job, and his purpose in life, Jessie is praying for the safe return of her beau, Jack, and Beatrice is hard at work as a nurse in the war hospital and is faced with a shocking revelation from her sweetheart.
With many men from the Sandringham Company still missing in Gallipoli, the village is also suffering. When Kitty Willow, the wife of one of the missing men, and her six young children lose their home on the royal estate, the Saward family rally around to help. As they are forced into the workhouse and Kitty is separated from her children, life looks bleak. But when a kind benefactor takes a shine to Kitty her fortunes may have turned around. Could this be the new start in life that she and her children so desperately need?
My Review
I have a little confession to make. Although I had the first two books in ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters’ series on my ever increasing ‘to be read’ mountain, I hadn’t actually read one until now that is…….. When I was invited to take part in the blog tour for the third and final part of the series, which is called ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters In Love’, I knew that I wouldn’t get a better chance to firstly make a dent in the ‘to be read’ mountain and secondly get to know Ellee’s work. Now having read and thoroughly enjoyed each book in ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters’ series, I am now rather cross at myself for leaving it this long. I absolutely ADORED reading ”The Royal Station Master’s Daughters’ series and in particular the third instalment, which is called ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters In Love’ but more about that in a bit.
I have to say that the character that stood out for me has to be Maria. Without giving too much away the first book in the series sees Maria literally hit rock bottom and in the subsequent books, we follow her progress as she tries to rebuild her life. I warmed to Maria from the start and it didn’t take me long to consider her as being a friend of mine rather than a character in a book. I felt all protective of her and wanted to jump into the pages of the book to sort out anybody who happened to upset her or pick on her for any reason. Maria is a lovely lass, who works hard and cares deeply about those she works with and those she lives with. I kept everything crossed that Maria would get the ‘happy ever after’ ending that she so deserved. What happens? Well for the answer to that question and so much more you are just going to have to read the books for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
I picked up the first book in the series and didn’t put it down again for a good three hours. I was blown away by the story and by how well I warmed to the main characters. From then on it’s safe to say that I became addicted to reading the series and used every opportunity I could to avoid having to put the books down. I just couldn’t bear to miss a single second of the story and had to know how the latest developments in the story affected the main characters. The more of the books that I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. I seemed to charge my way through all three books in the space of a week, which is pretty good going for me since I usually have the attention span of a gnat and I am easily distracted but that certainly wasn’t the case with ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters’ series. I found ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters’ series and in particular ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters In Love’ to be a gripping and emotional series, which certainly kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat.
‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters In Love’ , and the whole series in fact, is superbly written. The author has an easy going writing style that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. In fact reading one of Ellee’s books feels more like a chat between friends rather than reading a book. I hope that makes sense. Ellee certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into what proves to be one hell of a story and then some. Ellee has clearly done a huge amount of research into the time period during which the story takes place- this and the fact that the series features real life characters, makes the books seem that bit more authentic. I loved the fact that the story takes place during the First World War, which is a period that fascinates me. Until a time machine is invented, reading such well written and well researched books as these are the best way for me to get an understanding and appreciation of what it was like to live through the First World War and beyond. I always find that the sign of a good book/ series is when I become far too involved with the story and interact with the characters as if they can hear me. Well that’s exactly what happened with ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters’. I ‘lived’ that story as if it were real and that’s all thanks to Ellee’s very vivid and realistic storytelling.
In short I ADORED reading ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters’ series, and in particular ‘The Royal Station Master’s Daughters In Love’ and I wholeheartedly recommend this series to other readers. In fact the three books in the series have to be my top reads of 2024 so far. I look forward to reading much more of Ellee’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
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