A story of ordinary war-time life in London during the Blitz.

In 1940, twenty-two-year-old Emmy lands a job in “Woman’s Friend” magazine typing letters for the advice column of Mrs Bird, against the background of the German bombing of Britain.

“Stiff upper lips and getting on with things were all very well, but sometimes there was nothing to do but admit that things were simply awful. War was appalling and unfair.”

“At the magazine, Mrs Bird’s standard approach was to be rather cross about almost everything, and in particular, the readers, most of whom were a sad disappointment to her.”

“A slightly built man in grey was half carrying, half dragging a lady out of the cafe. She was also entirely grey. But it wasn’t their clothes, it was the dust covering them and their hair and their faces, as if they’d been dipped in ash.”

~Quotes from the book.

• Guardian: “Stiff upper lips all round: a comic novel about an agony aunt in wartime London proves as hilarious as it is moving “
• Washington Independent Review of Books: “Author Pearce has nested a breezy tale of a young woman’s stint as a secret advice columnist within the daunting reality of life in a city under siege. And despite the fact that her title character is the least believable of all, Pearce successfully uses the existence of Mrs. Bird to reveal the story of the younger generation emerging from the Blitz.”
• Kirkus: Although the jauntiness and feel-good tone can grate on occasion, especially during the farcical wrap-up, this is a readable, well-intentioned, very English tribute to the women of the homefront.”

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