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Made in Yorkshire #3
A Wartime Christmas in the Dales
Can the festive cheer warm her heart again?
October 1941. Despite the hardships of life during wartime, Bobby Bancroft has never been happier. Engaged to her airman sweetheart Charlie, living in the beautiful Dales village of Silverdale and gainfully employed at The Tyke magazine, her life seems to be going exactly the way she always hoped it would.
As the festive season approaches, Bobby is recruited to help produce a Christmas pantomime for the evacuee children billeted in the village. The project introduces her to some new friends, including a handsome Canadian, Flying Officer Ernie King, and her friend Topsy’s upper-crust cousin Archie Sumner.
However, fresh troubles arise when Charlie discovers his RAF training is to be cut short and he must prepare to join the fight imminently. What’s more, his upcoming leave has been cancelled, leaving him to spend a lonely Christmas in his barracks. Can a miracle bring Charlie and Bobby together for Christmas?
An absolutely captivating, heart warming and uplifting festive saga that fans of All Creatures Great and Small, Gervase Phinn and Maggie Mason will adore.
Reader can’t get enough of the Made in Yorkshire
‘Ms. Firth's storytelling is absolutely spectacular and full of so much heart, and her writing jumps right off the page.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘One of the best books I have read in a very, very long time.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘LOVED IT!!!…My heart ached when reading this…A lovely story, full of heart and home. I didn’t want it to end…’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘Read in 24 hours! Exceptional!...The storyline was strong and the characters were all likeable and relatable.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘Fabulous book, loved every page and didn’t want to put it down.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘The characters are all so likeable and you want to get to know them more.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘Heartwarming, historical and humorous. Thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘There are real echoes of All Creatures Great and Small in this story…I loved it.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
October 1941. Despite the hardships of life during wartime, Bobby Bancroft has never been happier. Engaged to her airman sweetheart Charlie, living in the beautiful Dales village of Silverdale and gainfully employed at The Tyke magazine, her life seems to be going exactly the way she always hoped it would.
As the festive season approaches, Bobby is recruited to help produce a Christmas pantomime for the evacuee children billeted in the village. The project introduces her to some new friends, including a handsome Canadian, Flying Officer Ernie King, and her friend Topsy’s upper-crust cousin Archie Sumner.
However, fresh troubles arise when Charlie discovers his RAF training is to be cut short and he must prepare to join the fight imminently. What’s more, his upcoming leave has been cancelled, leaving him to spend a lonely Christmas in his barracks. Can a miracle bring Charlie and Bobby together for Christmas?
An absolutely captivating, heart warming and uplifting festive saga that fans of All Creatures Great and Small, Gervase Phinn and Maggie Mason will adore.
Reader can’t get enough of the Made in Yorkshire
‘Ms. Firth's storytelling is absolutely spectacular and full of so much heart, and her writing jumps right off the page.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘One of the best books I have read in a very, very long time.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘LOVED IT!!!…My heart ached when reading this…A lovely story, full of heart and home. I didn’t want it to end…’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘Read in 24 hours! Exceptional!...The storyline was strong and the characters were all likeable and relatable.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘Fabulous book, loved every page and didn’t want to put it down.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘The characters are all so likeable and you want to get to know them more.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘Heartwarming, historical and humorous. Thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
‘There are real echoes of All Creatures Great and Small in this story…I loved it.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review
400 pages, Paperback
Published August 29, 2024
70 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Betty Firth
8 books22 followersBetty Firth grew up in rural West Yorkshire, right in the heart of Brontë country… and she's still there. After graduating from Durham University with a degree in English Literature, she dallied with living in cities including London, Nottingham and Cambridge, but homesickness soon drove her back to her beloved Yorkshire. She lives in the shadow of the moors with her partner and two mischievous border collies.
Betty also writes romantic comedies as Mary Jayne Baker and Lisa Swift, and murder mysteries as Penny Blackwell.
More information can be found about Betty on her website at www.maryjaynebaker.co.uk. You can also follow her on Twitter, @MaryJayneBaker, or like her Facebook page by going to Facebook.com/MaryJayneWrites
Betty also writes romantic comedies as Mary Jayne Baker and Lisa Swift, and murder mysteries as Penny Blackwell.
More information can be found about Betty on her website at www.maryjaynebaker.co.uk. You can also follow her on Twitter, @MaryJayneBaker, or like her Facebook page by going to Facebook.com/MaryJayneWrites
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 29, 2024
Nice read.
Kind of book you wanted to keep reading.
Hopefully there will be a book 4 it does seem on the card’s with the ending of the book.
Kind of book you wanted to keep reading.
Hopefully there will be a book 4 it does seem on the card’s with the ending of the book.
December 3, 2025
Loved it! Can't wait to read the next one.
December 12, 2024
From the very popular author Betty Firth, this is the third book set in the Yorkshire Dale's in Northern England during WW2.
Life in a small village where everyone knows everyone else still goes on, although there is a war on, children attend the village school and get to ring the morning bell, also the villagers are out in the fields and hedgerows picking berries and rose hips, all an essential part of the war effort as they provide essential vitamin C to the children of Britain.
Bobby lives with her father, he has a drink problem after suffering nightmares resulting from his time fighting in WW1, and sometimes he has difficulty remembering who she is. Bobby is worried that her boyfriend Charlie will also return from the war and be broken and lost. She has a twin sister, Lilian, whom she has just found out that she is going to be engaged, as soon as their father gives his blessing. Will her happiness continue? Her father always takes comfort in having a drink to mellow his moods. Often, he is back in the trenches of WW1, trying to block everything out. There are evacuees living at the farm and attending the village school, always bringing a smile to everyone's face in the village and of course everyone is helping with the village pantomime, but Bobby has some secret investigations of her own, will she be able to help a young serviceman from being bullied?
Everyone in the village and the local area is pulling together to make this Christmas as special as possible for the evacuee children billeted nearby.
A lovely story set in the Yorkshire Dale's, it's full of wartime spirit, and in this Christmas of 1941, everyone is wondering what the future will be. But whatever it is, the people of the Dale's are always there for each other, as you step back in time to Christmas in the wartime years in the lovely setting of the Yorkshire Dale's for this heartwarming story.
I did appreciate the dialect glossary at the front of the book, so if you are unsure what the words mean, you can quickly look it up.
A well deserved five star read from me.
#netgalley
#BettyFirth
Life in a small village where everyone knows everyone else still goes on, although there is a war on, children attend the village school and get to ring the morning bell, also the villagers are out in the fields and hedgerows picking berries and rose hips, all an essential part of the war effort as they provide essential vitamin C to the children of Britain.
Bobby lives with her father, he has a drink problem after suffering nightmares resulting from his time fighting in WW1, and sometimes he has difficulty remembering who she is. Bobby is worried that her boyfriend Charlie will also return from the war and be broken and lost. She has a twin sister, Lilian, whom she has just found out that she is going to be engaged, as soon as their father gives his blessing. Will her happiness continue? Her father always takes comfort in having a drink to mellow his moods. Often, he is back in the trenches of WW1, trying to block everything out. There are evacuees living at the farm and attending the village school, always bringing a smile to everyone's face in the village and of course everyone is helping with the village pantomime, but Bobby has some secret investigations of her own, will she be able to help a young serviceman from being bullied?
Everyone in the village and the local area is pulling together to make this Christmas as special as possible for the evacuee children billeted nearby.
A lovely story set in the Yorkshire Dale's, it's full of wartime spirit, and in this Christmas of 1941, everyone is wondering what the future will be. But whatever it is, the people of the Dale's are always there for each other, as you step back in time to Christmas in the wartime years in the lovely setting of the Yorkshire Dale's for this heartwarming story.
I did appreciate the dialect glossary at the front of the book, so if you are unsure what the words mean, you can quickly look it up.
A well deserved five star read from me.
#netgalley
#BettyFirth
September 28, 2024
A Wartime Christmas in the Dales is the third installment of a beautiful series set where I was born. It always brings me joy to hear the dialect, customs and lives of local people brought about in books and represented in print.
The characters are very lovingly written and while each have their fair share of trials and tribulations, they all get chances of happiness too. There is another book on the cards as is evident by the very last chapter and cliffhanger. I can't wait until it comes out and I can get my hands on a copy.
I love the community present in these books, friends old and new, the rogue, the villain, the best friends, the parental couple, the family in need and the jokers too. I also won't forget the very lucky hen! I guessed every plot twist and about turn that happened and still they were written so well that it didn't matter at all.
Betty Firth's books bring so much warmth and joy, they are the perfect books to cuddle up with, and this one especially in time for a Christmas read. I loved it!
Thank you to Netgalley, Hera Books and Betty Firth, for the beautiful book to read. All opinions written by me are my own.
The characters are very lovingly written and while each have their fair share of trials and tribulations, they all get chances of happiness too. There is another book on the cards as is evident by the very last chapter and cliffhanger. I can't wait until it comes out and I can get my hands on a copy.
I love the community present in these books, friends old and new, the rogue, the villain, the best friends, the parental couple, the family in need and the jokers too. I also won't forget the very lucky hen! I guessed every plot twist and about turn that happened and still they were written so well that it didn't matter at all.
Betty Firth's books bring so much warmth and joy, they are the perfect books to cuddle up with, and this one especially in time for a Christmas read. I loved it!
Thank you to Netgalley, Hera Books and Betty Firth, for the beautiful book to read. All opinions written by me are my own.
August 30, 2024
This is a charming read set during WW2 in my idyllic part of the country. I held back reading it, hoping to find time to read the earlier books in the series, but it didn’t happen. It was fine as a standalone. What could possibly be better than snow, Christmas with diverse characters and an amusing extraordinary engagement party for Norman? Handsome RAF chaps from Canada have made a splash in the village with the ladies, and there’s a jolly, festive Pantomime. By the way, I couldn’t bear to gorge on the adorable Henrietta.
Bobby Bancroft, an inspired reporter of ‘The Tyke’ with innovative ideas, is inwardly beleaguered by worry about her father, who is currently unemployed, suffers shellshock from the Great War in the trenches and has hit the bottle. Her fiancé, Charlie, is inexplicably unhappy. Is he cooling towards her? Lastly, her brother Jake is about to train in bomb disposal. Will the festivities help eradicate her fears, and will they be unfounded?
Thank you to Netgalley and Hera.
Bobby Bancroft, an inspired reporter of ‘The Tyke’ with innovative ideas, is inwardly beleaguered by worry about her father, who is currently unemployed, suffers shellshock from the Great War in the trenches and has hit the bottle. Her fiancé, Charlie, is inexplicably unhappy. Is he cooling towards her? Lastly, her brother Jake is about to train in bomb disposal. Will the festivities help eradicate her fears, and will they be unfounded?
Thank you to Netgalley and Hera.
August 18, 2024
The third book I. This series and it did not disappoint. An easy 5 🌟. Bobby Bancroft continues to work for the local paper although has greater aspirations but also still in a relationship with Charlie so knows her job is at risk if she marries. Christmas 1941 approaches so we watch as the scene unravels. Thanks to Betty and her publisher.
October 17, 2024
These three books were such a pleasure to read. I loved them & am now disappointed that there isn’t a 4th one to continue to read about Bobby. I am now looking to find other books by Betty Firth. I’m sure Betty there’s more you could tell us about Bobby & her family & friends? Please? 🙏🏻
May 11, 2025
Have read a number of Betty Firth's books and book series. Really enjoyed all her book, was not disappointed with this series, however I noted that Book 4 in the series is not available via Kindle Unlimited.
September 13, 2024
SOSOSO excellent. I must know what is going to happen next. This author deals with such serious issues with thoughtfulness and realistic discussion.
October 25, 2024
So far reading the three books I was hooked from the start.
Looking forward to reading the next book
Looking forward to reading the next book
December 8, 2024
I like the era and the country story running on from previous book. Felt it a bit slow in places and didn’t keep me inspired as the previous book did. But a good fireside read though
April 25, 2025
Pure nostalgia - a great family saga.
September 18, 2025
really enjoyed finding out what is happening with the characters. looking forward to reading the next one.x
November 5, 2025
Wartime
I've really enjoyed this story. Great to read all that happens in the war. Men and women were so very brave. Thank you Betty ❤❤❤
I've really enjoyed this story. Great to read all that happens in the war. Men and women were so very brave. Thank you Betty ❤❤❤
January 1, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley, Hera Books, and Betty Firth for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of A Wartime Christmas In The Dales. It was a lovely story set during WWII at Christmas time and I devoured it in one day.
Betty Firth has a wonderful gift of telling a good wholesome story. I loved all of the characters she developed, even the ones the reader was obviously not supposed to care for. Those characters actually became a joy to dislike.
It was a beautiful story about love, friendship, and community. The story revealed how important it is for all of these relationships to be strong in order to bring people together during wartime, especially during the holidays. I absolutely loved the background of the Dales also. Firth did an amazing job of making the reader feel like they were experiencing Christmas in the hills of remote England.
I think this story has something for everyone. I enjoyed reading it with a cup of tea, watching the snow fall outside, and watching my Christmas tree lights dance. I will definitely be searching for more stories by Betty Firth. This book was a five star for me.
Betty Firth has a wonderful gift of telling a good wholesome story. I loved all of the characters she developed, even the ones the reader was obviously not supposed to care for. Those characters actually became a joy to dislike.
It was a beautiful story about love, friendship, and community. The story revealed how important it is for all of these relationships to be strong in order to bring people together during wartime, especially during the holidays. I absolutely loved the background of the Dales also. Firth did an amazing job of making the reader feel like they were experiencing Christmas in the hills of remote England.
I think this story has something for everyone. I enjoyed reading it with a cup of tea, watching the snow fall outside, and watching my Christmas tree lights dance. I will definitely be searching for more stories by Betty Firth. This book was a five star for me.
November 14, 2024
I loved this latest instalment in Bobby Bancroft's story. Now well into the war, she and her fellow villagers are doing their best to carry on, despite the men being called up, food on ration, and evacuee children to care for. Bobby's journalistic and investigative skills serve her well as she fights against simply writing a women's page and gets her teeth into something far more important. A pantomime adds some light relief as she worries about her fiance Charlie, seemingly growing more distant, and her friend Topsy who just might be about to marry the wrong man. Plenty of detail make wartime life in the Dales feel very real, whether it's trudging through snow, planning on killing a hen for Christmas dinner, or much more serious matters regarding facial disfigurement, homosexuality, or anti Jewish bullying. A bit of a surprise ending that makes me look forward very much to the next book!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews