An Insight Into The Characters From High Hopes For The Bomber Girls by Vicki Beeby
This week author Vicki Beeby shares an insight into the main characters from the last in her Bomber Command series, Book 4 – High Hopes For The Bomber Girls which was published by Canelo Saga on 19 June 2025. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series and share my own review of the book at the end of this post. Over to Vicki …
Thanks for inviting me on your blog again, Morton. It feels like only yesterday that I was here to talk about my third Bomber Girls book, and now here I am, back to tell you about the fourth and final book in the series and, in particular, its two main characters.
High Hopes for the Bomber Girls features the same characters as the other books but this time the focus is on Jenny Hazleton and Edwin Holland. I’ve grown very fond of these two over the course of the books so I’ve been looking forward to bringing them centre stage.
Jenny, although highly intelligent, was forced to leave school at fourteen so she could start earning. Yet she has such a love of learning that she devours whatever books she can lay her hands on. A quirk of hers that’s given me a lot of enjoyment is her mispronunciation of words she’s only ever read. As you can imagine, these often pop out at the most embarrassing moment!
I thought that, despite her lack of qualifications, the WAAF would spot her intelligence when she joined, so I had her assigned to a technical trade – Meteorological Assistant. This puts her in close contact with the hero of the story, Edwin, as he is a navigator and needs to visit the station Met Office, where Jenny works, for weather updates before he can accurately plot a course.
Something I always like to explore in my books is how the war interrupted characters’ lives and how it subsequently changes them. Edwin was studying for a PhD in astronomy before the war and if war hadn’t broken out, he would have lived out his life quite happily as an academic – he’s just the kind of geeky character I love writing about! It’s inevitable that with their mutual love of learning, he and Jenny would be attracted to one another, so what’s kept them apart for the last three books? Quite a lot, actually, as readers will discover!
Most of it I can’t reveal here because they would be huge spoilers but I will say that Edwin is finding it hard to reconcile his drive to do his duty and shorten the war with the knowledge that many of their bombs are falling on civilians. This is exacerbated by things he experienced and did when he was shot down behind enemy lines (this happened in Christmas for the Bomber Girls). Needless to say it’s going to take all Jenny’s help to get him to confide in her and, perhaps, start on the road to healing. You’ll have to read the book to find out how it happens!
About Vicki Beeby
Vicki Beeby writes historical fiction about the friendships and loves of service women brought together by the Second World War.
Her first job was as a civil engineer on a sewage treatment project, so things could only improve from there. Since then, she has worked as a maths teacher and education consultant before turning freelance to give herself more time to write.
In her free time, when she can drag herself away from reading, she enjoys walking and travelling to far-off places by train. She lives in Shropshire in a house that doesn’t contain nearly enough bookshelves.
Website: vickibeeby.co.uk
Facebook page: facebook.com/VickiBeebyAuthor
Instagram: @vickibeebyauthor
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More About High Hopes for the Bomber Girls
The war may nearly be over, but danger is ever-present as storms lie ahead…
Even with peace on the horizon, Met WAAF Jenny Hazleton is as busy as ever. Her keen weather forecasting allows the pilots to continue their missions, including food drops to starving allies and the repatriation of prisoners of war.
Navigating many of these missions is Flying Officer Edwin Holland, whose rejection of her advances at Christmas still stings. Edwin is increasingly haunted by his role in the war, including the bombing of Dresden, and Jenny yearns to comfort him. But when he reveals the shocking reason he turned her down, she must decide if their friendship is well and truly over.
After a local young woman is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Jenny and Edwin come together to track down the killer. Can they rebuild their friendship – and can they ever be more than just friends? Or are the scars of war too deep to truly heal?
The dramatic and inspiring finale to the series, perfect for fans of Kate Thompson, Daisy Styles and Soraya M. Lane.
Purchase link: here
Other books by Vicki Beeby:
Morton’s Review of High Hopes For The Bomber Girls:
I have enjoyed all of the books in this series so a definite five stars from me. My review is as follows:-
There is something so lovely about beginning to read the next book in a series when you already know and care about the characters and can’t wait to find out what happens next in their journeys through life. High Hopes for the Bomber Girls is a very satisfying conclusion to Vicki Beeby’s Bomber Girl series. Although part of me would like to see a book written about these characters after the war and later in their lives too.
This novel concentrates on the story of Jenny, who is much cleverer than she believes herself to be, even with her mispronunciations of words she has only seen written down not spoken. The novel illuminates the impact of some of the things our servicemen and women had to endure and do in the war years and how this potentially affected their relationships and future lives. Lovely to catch up with Edwin, Pearl, Greg, Thea, Fitz, Deedee and Thomas too.
As always with a Vicki Beeby novel, I got carried away with reading and was eager to get back to the book whenever I had chance. Can’t wait to see what the author will treat us to next.
Buy High Hopes For The Bomber Girls: here
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