Blog Tour: Extract from Courage of the Shipyard Girls by Nancy Revell

by Jess Bickerton - February 21, 2019

I love it when I get the opportunity to review the new book in a series - especially one that I loved! If you haven't already, check out my review of book 5 in the Shipyard Girls series here! Courage of the Shipyard Girls is book 6, the next instalment Nancy Revell's brilliant series.

Published: 21st February 2019 by Arrow

Amazon UK - Buy Now!

Amazon US - Preorder Now!

About the book:

Sunderland, 1942
Polly's heart and her future are hanging in the balance… Polly’s sweetheart Tommy has been declared missing while serving overseas, and although there is no certainty that he is dead, there is no guarantee that he will return home. Now Polly needs her friends more than ever, and the other women welders are ready to rally around her while she waits for news.

The only one not showing support is shipyard manager, Helen. But looks can be deceiving, and beneath her cold exterior, Helen is wrestling with demons of her own, including one life-changing decision that could lead to potential ruin. As the war continues, the shipyard girls must support one another as they bravely soldier on.

As the war rages on, their friendship must be stronger than ever.

About the author:

Nancy Revell is the pen name of writer and journalist Amanda Revell Walton, who has worked for the national press for the past 25 years, providing them with hard-hitting news stories and in-depth features. She has also worked for just about every woman’s magazine, writing amazing and inspirational true life stories.

A little look inside:

Chapter One

The letter floated to the ground before a gentle breeze lifted it up again at the exact time a tram was trundling down the length of Tatham Street.

Like the first draw of a fire as it catches, the letter was sucked under the metal belly of the carriage and disappeared from view.

By the time the tram had screeched its way past number 34, the letter had been unceremoniously spat out again into the still morning air, and after another brief flutter it landed by the side of the road.

The letter’s near demise did not go unnoticed, though. For two minutes earlier, at the exact time Polly had been leaving for work and had bumped into the postwoman, Maud Goode had been having her usual early-morning tussle with the heavy blackout curtains that adorned her bedroom window.

‘Mavis!’ Maud kept her sight focused on the letter now languishing in the gutter across the road from where she and her sister lived above the sweet shop they jointly owned.

‘Mavis!’ Her tone was different to the one she normally adopted to wake her sister. This morning her voice was serious. Urgent. Lacking its usual annoyance that she was, as always, the first to rise.

‘What’s the matter?’ Mavis’s voice was croaky with sleep.

‘Something’s wrong.’ Maud tightened the cord of her dressing gown around her ample waist and hurried out of the bedroom. In a matter of seconds, she had made it down the narrow staircase and out the front door. Bumping into a couple of shipyard workers, Maud ignored their apologies as well as their look of surprise at seeing her cross the road in just her nightclothes and slippers, her pink plastic curlers still in her hair.

Having made it to the other side, Maud was forced to wait until a double-decker bus had crunched through its gears and passed before she could bend down and pick up the letter, now smudged with dirt.

Shoving it straight into the pocket of her robe, Maud looked left, then right, before making her way back to the house.

‘I’m in the kitchen,’ Mavis shouted out, hearing the front door clash.

Walking into the scullery, Maud saw that her sister was making a big pot of tea.

‘What’s wrong?’ Mavis asked again as her sister pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table.

Maud didn’t reply but reached into her pocket and retrieved the letter, her plump hands straightening the thick sheet of crumpled paper out on the wooden tabletop. The kettle started to whistle and Mavis poured steaming hot water into the ceramic teapot.

‘Young Polly . . . ’ Maud looked up at her sister. ‘She just got this.’ Her eyes dropped to the letter now spread out in front of her.

‘Poor bairn went white as a ghost. I thought she was going to go back inside, but she didn’t. She got something out of her pocket and then just walked off down the street. Looked like she was in a trance.’

Mavis brought the teapot over and placed it on the table. She stirred before pouring out two cups, adding milk and half a teaspoon of sugar to each.

‘Go on then,’ she said, nodding across to the letter.‘What’s it say?’

Extracted from Courage of the Shipyard Girls by Nancy Revell, the sixth book in the Shipyard Girls series (out today, Arrow, paperback, £7.99)

So... what are you waiting for! Order this next book in the series and don't forget to leave a comment below once you've read it to let me know what you thought!

Chat soon beautifuls,