And Then I Read: DUNKIRK SUMMER by Philip Turner

Cover art by Graham Humphreys

This is the only book in Turner’s Darnley Mills series I hadn’t read, so I recently paid too much for it to complete the series. The final book, Skull Island, was reviewed here some time ago. There are two intertwined threads in the Darnley Mills books, this is the final one in the historical series, taking place during World War Two.

Andy Birch has been evacuated from his London home, where he lives with his mother, to board with an elderly woman in Darnley Mills. He likes it pretty well, and his friend from school in London, Archie, is there too. Archie gets them into trouble at school, but that leads to Andy finding a girlfriend in Pat, the daughter of the rector in a nearby church. The war has everyone on edge, and Andy hopes to join the Navy when he’s out of school, which will be soon. In the meantime he’s in the Sea Cadets, Navy trainees, who help out on the ancient retired trawler Painted Lady. When Andy finds out the ship has been ordered to join the large fleet of British ships heading for Dunkirk, France, to rescue the British army trapped there, he’s determined to go along, and he stows away in the ship’s lifeboat. Commander Thomson is not amused, and puts him ashore and on his way home where the ships are gathered in Harwich.

Back in Darnley Mills, Andy and Archie have been expelled from school, but still need to study to pass their Higher Schooling exams. Mrs. Maydew, who took in Andy, wants him out, but Andy’s girlfriend Pat gets him a new home in the attic of the rectory, which he actually likes better. As the war spreads north toward Darnley Mills, Andy, Archie, and Pat take on the job of protecting the church from firebombs, and it proves a dangerous task after a bombing raid. Can they put out the fires and save the ancient building?

Excellent read, and this one does not wrap things up in a happy ending, leaving the reader to wonder if the main characters survived the war, but I found that uncertainty made it all the more real. Recommended.

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