The Caldwell Girls

Caldwell #3

by Rowena Summers

Rowena Summers's saga captures the feelings of three sisters enduring World War II. The Caldwell Girls comes full circle to follow the exploits of all three sisters as they adapt to a very different lifestyle.

Genres: Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Jean Innes was born on 8 February 1932 in London, England, but she have lived in the West Country almost all her life. She married with Geoff Saunders, her childhood sweetheart, and they have three grown up children. She lived in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, where she wrote full time. She passed away on 3 August 2011, after contracting an illness, after being rushed to Weston General Hospital.

Jean began her career as a magazine writer and had published around 600 short stories. She start to published gothic romance novels under her married name Jean Saunders and her maiden name Jean Innes in the 1970s. In 1980s, she created, to wrote historical romances, two pseudonyms, her most popular, Rowena Summers and Sally Blake. In 1991 her novel, "The Bannister Girls," was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of Year award. In 2004, she began to used the penname Rachel Moore.

She was an active member and enthusiast of Swanwick, the Writers' Summer School, which takes place in Derbyshire, England, every August, she was a committee member several times, and also Vice-Chairman. She was elected the seventeenth Chairman (1993-1995) of the Romantic Novelists' Association. As a member of the Romance Writers of America she had given talks at conferences in various venues of the USA. She was a member of the Crime Writers' Association. She also was a member and past committee member of the West Country Writers' Association.

Reviews

[Mystica]

The second book I am reading about this very interesting family. The war has continued and each daughter is finding their niche and how best they can serve their country. Bristol is being bombarded and being destroyed a bit at a time and how to protect oneself if of vital importance as everyone wants to survive and come out of this intact along with their loved ones.

It is not always possible and in the family with the loss of Baz just sixteen years old, the value of life is very precious now. Elsie decides to go to Yorkshire to live with her husband's family along with her baby Faith and live out the war there as it is comparatively safe there. Daisy continues with her nursing in the burns unit of the hospital, her dream of entertaining troops temporarily dashed. She is worried over the fate of her Canadian pilot boyfriend and his safety and then there is Immy the eldest who maintains a strong facade and their father Quentin who has now found a safe haven in Mary after the tragic death of his wife Frances.

The strands of the story encompass these lives, the daily tribulations which face everyone in war time irrespective of being rich or poor and the indomitable will to survive all odds, most apparent in everyone at the time.

[Annarella]

An interesting and engrossing historical novel that kept me hooked till the end.
I loved the character development, the characters are fleshed out and interesting, the historical background and the well crafted plot.
It's the first book I read in this series and had no issues with the characters or the plot. I will surely read the other installment in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

[Sally Coles]

An interesting story of 3 sisters in WW2, it's the third in the series but can easily be read as a standalone. Good characters and storyline that keeps your interest throughout so will now go back and read the first two

[Sarah Smith]

It was flowery strong gripping and powerful! And as I said before I loved following the different characters and their stories! The final book in the saga was best and amazing! The saga did end abruptly but I would recommend this saga to anyone!

[Alex Ankarr]

good God no.

[Brenda Anderson]

Fantastic read.

[Gail Herrmann]

I didn't realize that this was not a stand alone book, the saga of 3 sisters, but i didn't have any trouble understanding and appreciating their story. Heartwarming story of what the 3 sisters do to help their community/country. Thanks for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Sarah Barron]

Very good, close to where I live so I know the area