Carol Flynn and Jack Wallis are living and working in the same square mile, eighty years apart. In the twenty-first century, Carol is afraid of potential dangers lurking in the outside world and locks herself away safely at home. Longing to improve her mental health she keeps a diary and rehomes a dog to help her go outside and meet other people.
When out walking Biddy, her Bichon Frise, she sees a poster protesting the closure of the local social club and unwillingly finds herself co-opted onto the committee to save it.
In the twentieth century, Jack is on the home front as the first line of defence for the aeroplane factory, fighting the dangers that invade his world. He has made a special human connection and wants to explore it before time runs out.
When Covid 19 threatens the closure of the social club on their housing estate, saving it could acknowledge Jack’s affections and provide the community Carol is trying to find.
Trudie Pabor lives on the outskirts of Coventry. Having worked as a secondary school teacher in various schools for twenty-four years, she now helps university students to achieve their goals. Whilst obtaining a master’s in creative writing, she made several contributions to a university anthology and has continued to write since.
Trudie enjoys cycling to work and takes inspiration from the world around her. ‘You never know what you are going to see that will spark your imagination!’ A background in secondary education shaped her first novel ‘The Malady of Miss Maybely’, and her experiences of living in Coventry have heavily influenced her second novel ‘The Canterbury Tails.’
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My thoughts: so a book with lots of dogs was always going to appeal to me, and I love history too, which added to the appeal of this book with its dual timelines.
Carol is a recovering agoraphobe (with good reason) who gets a dog, Biddy, to help her go outside and even meet people. And she does; Arthur, who is almost 100 years old and his dog George, Jackie and her excitable pup too. These people are her first friends, and they help her come out of her shell and get involved with saving the local social club. Until the pandemic forces them to cancel their plans.
Jack is living through WW2, working in an aeroplane factory and drinking a quick pint at the pub before catching his train home to Rugby. That’s where he meets Billy. Drawn to one another, they become friends, sharing a shift as night watchmen on the factory roof, and a meal in the pub.
As lockdown lifts, Carol starts looking into the area’s history, drawn into Jack and Billy’s story by a chance discovery. Jackie does some digging too, and Arthur offers up his memories of the war years. Can they piece together the story?
A sweet and charming story of friendship and community at challenging times in recent and not so recent history.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 
lovely review – thank you so much for supporting the tour x
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