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Harriet and Emilie
A tumultous century dawns and two girls are born: one, a daughter of an English aristocrat: the other, the only child of a German cook...
But the War intervenes. Will the two friends survive the darkness that has engulfed Europe?
But the War intervenes. Will the two friends survive the darkness that has engulfed Europe?
160 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2022
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 29, 2022
Ahh I loved this book ! At 160 pages this was a short read that packed a lot into it !
This book follows the lives of Harriet and Emilie, one a daughter of an English aristocrat and the other the daughter of a German cook. Set in WWII , this is a heart warming and sometimes upsetting story in the perspectives that you wouldn't normally come across. To read their views and how two people with completely different backgrounds and during a time if turmoil can becomes friends was truly special.
It was a brilliantly written book that had me wanting to never finish it !
This book follows the lives of Harriet and Emilie, one a daughter of an English aristocrat and the other the daughter of a German cook. Set in WWII , this is a heart warming and sometimes upsetting story in the perspectives that you wouldn't normally come across. To read their views and how two people with completely different backgrounds and during a time if turmoil can becomes friends was truly special.
It was a brilliantly written book that had me wanting to never finish it !
August 30, 2022
A sweet family drama set in the past. The old school romance was refreshing and soothing to read. It is so sweet. The book revolves around the main characters Harriet and Emilie
It also has glimpse of the British country side and a bit of royalty. Hence the historic fiction category. The innocence of both characters is what touched me.
Can you imagine a world without internet?
It also has glimpse of the British country side and a bit of royalty. Hence the historic fiction category. The innocence of both characters is what touched me.
Can you imagine a world without internet?
July 13, 2022
This historical novel opens in the English countryside over one hundred years ago: the main protagonist, Lady Harriet, was born in the year 1900. The privileged child of aristocratic parents living in Compton Manor, Herefordshire, Harriet meets Emilie, the little daughter of the family cook, Janina, and feels a strong connection with her. Despite the rigid class divide of society at the time, the two children are allowed to play together and build a strong emotional relationship (which reminded me a little of Anne and Diana in Anne of Green Gables).
I loved the opening scenes of the story, told through the innocent child voice of little Harriet.
The clarity and simplicity of the child’s vision was so powerful, transporting me into
the world of the grand English country house, with the back stairs, the nanny, and the day
nursery. The contrast between the world of the aristocratic family and their social inferiors,
the servants, was deftly conveyed, together with the sharp class divides of the Edwardian era.
The description of Harriet and Emilie’s early years together, from infancy through their
mutual pact as they become ‘blood sisters’, on to the age of fourteen, has a nostalgic, dreamlike quality. Emilie displays natural intelligence, whereas, for the wayward, headstrong Harriet, academic studies are more of a struggle. A young Christian governess Miss Grey makes a significant impact on their lives; and she returns to the narrative later, in a stark wartime situation they would never have anticipated.
However, we are clear about the political background with the children’s naïve references to
the “Suffering Jets”, (the Suffragettes), and alongside the two girls, we become conscious of
impending war: the conflict we now know as the First World War. Radical change splits the two girls apart: Janina and Emilie are from an ‘enemy country’, so they must return there, to Bavaria.
I shared the sorrow of the two friends’ parting, and the pace of the story picks up with their very different individual stories, Harriet in England, Emilie in Germany, as the
war takes over their lives. I was particularly struck by the author’s depiction of ‘war fever’
and the atmosphere of festivity as young men and boys (whom we now see to have been
tragically deluded) sign up to fight, thinking of it all as a jolly adventure, all manipulated by
the government messages and the now-famous posters which today we know to have been
cynical propaganda.
Compton Manor is requisitioned as a hospital and Harriet is required to help in the kitchens,
her former privileged life a thing of the past. I have read novels before in which aristocratic young women become wartime nurses in field hospitals and find themselves caring for desperately wounded soldiers. Eleanor Watkins here brings it all vividly alive: the challenges that face Harriet in her role of Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse, and how she is strengthened by her prayers and by her sense of God’s presence.
I love the contrast between the horrific suffering of the soldiers and the lyrical descriptions of nature, the hawthorn blossoms, the mountains, and the pine woods. It seems like a vision of heaven, beyond the horror of war. This is a wonderful book not only for young adults to read, but for all ages. The story reminded me a little of Michael Morpurgo’s wartime fiction, and even Ian McEwan’s Atonement. There were three occasions in the narrative when I believed the story to be heading in a certain direction – and the author defeated my expectations. Very highly recommended.
I loved the opening scenes of the story, told through the innocent child voice of little Harriet.
The clarity and simplicity of the child’s vision was so powerful, transporting me into
the world of the grand English country house, with the back stairs, the nanny, and the day
nursery. The contrast between the world of the aristocratic family and their social inferiors,
the servants, was deftly conveyed, together with the sharp class divides of the Edwardian era.
The description of Harriet and Emilie’s early years together, from infancy through their
mutual pact as they become ‘blood sisters’, on to the age of fourteen, has a nostalgic, dreamlike quality. Emilie displays natural intelligence, whereas, for the wayward, headstrong Harriet, academic studies are more of a struggle. A young Christian governess Miss Grey makes a significant impact on their lives; and she returns to the narrative later, in a stark wartime situation they would never have anticipated.
However, we are clear about the political background with the children’s naïve references to
the “Suffering Jets”, (the Suffragettes), and alongside the two girls, we become conscious of
impending war: the conflict we now know as the First World War. Radical change splits the two girls apart: Janina and Emilie are from an ‘enemy country’, so they must return there, to Bavaria.
I shared the sorrow of the two friends’ parting, and the pace of the story picks up with their very different individual stories, Harriet in England, Emilie in Germany, as the
war takes over their lives. I was particularly struck by the author’s depiction of ‘war fever’
and the atmosphere of festivity as young men and boys (whom we now see to have been
tragically deluded) sign up to fight, thinking of it all as a jolly adventure, all manipulated by
the government messages and the now-famous posters which today we know to have been
cynical propaganda.
Compton Manor is requisitioned as a hospital and Harriet is required to help in the kitchens,
her former privileged life a thing of the past. I have read novels before in which aristocratic young women become wartime nurses in field hospitals and find themselves caring for desperately wounded soldiers. Eleanor Watkins here brings it all vividly alive: the challenges that face Harriet in her role of Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse, and how she is strengthened by her prayers and by her sense of God’s presence.
I love the contrast between the horrific suffering of the soldiers and the lyrical descriptions of nature, the hawthorn blossoms, the mountains, and the pine woods. It seems like a vision of heaven, beyond the horror of war. This is a wonderful book not only for young adults to read, but for all ages. The story reminded me a little of Michael Morpurgo’s wartime fiction, and even Ian McEwan’s Atonement. There were three occasions in the narrative when I believed the story to be heading in a certain direction – and the author defeated my expectations. Very highly recommended.
August 31, 2022
This post is part of The Book Network’s blog tour for Harriet and Emilie by Eleanor Watkins. I received a copy of the Ebook in exchange for an honest review.
Harriet and Emilie is set during the First World War and tells the story of the friendship between two girls who find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.
Harriet and Emilie grow up together at Compton Manor in England in the early years of the 20th century. Harriet is the youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Compton, whilst Emilie is the daughter of their German cook, Janina. The two girls seem to be inseparable and promise to be ‘forever sisters’, but they are torn apart when war breaks out and Emilie and her mother are forced to return to their native Germany.
The second part of the book follows Emilie’s experience of returning to the homeland she has never known, her friendship with her cousin, Benno, and her growing desire to become a writer. The third section then follows Harriet’s story. Harriet stays at Compton Manor for a time, which has now been turned into a convalescent hospital for injured soldiers, and she begins to help care for some of the men there. Realising that she has found her true calling, she trains as a VAD nurse in London and ends up working in a military hospital on the Western Front, where she forms a bond with a German prisoner of war. In the last section we see what happens to Harriet and Emilie once the war is over.
I really enjoyed this book, particularly the sections following Harriet’s experiences as a nurse which I found very engaging and interesting. I liked the fact that we see the war from both an English and a German perspective, as well as seeing how it affected the lives of people on either side of the class divide. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical or wartime fiction, and also if you enjoy ‘below stairs’ or country house narratives.
Harriet and Emilie is set during the First World War and tells the story of the friendship between two girls who find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.
Harriet and Emilie grow up together at Compton Manor in England in the early years of the 20th century. Harriet is the youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Compton, whilst Emilie is the daughter of their German cook, Janina. The two girls seem to be inseparable and promise to be ‘forever sisters’, but they are torn apart when war breaks out and Emilie and her mother are forced to return to their native Germany.
The second part of the book follows Emilie’s experience of returning to the homeland she has never known, her friendship with her cousin, Benno, and her growing desire to become a writer. The third section then follows Harriet’s story. Harriet stays at Compton Manor for a time, which has now been turned into a convalescent hospital for injured soldiers, and she begins to help care for some of the men there. Realising that she has found her true calling, she trains as a VAD nurse in London and ends up working in a military hospital on the Western Front, where she forms a bond with a German prisoner of war. In the last section we see what happens to Harriet and Emilie once the war is over.
I really enjoyed this book, particularly the sections following Harriet’s experiences as a nurse which I found very engaging and interesting. I liked the fact that we see the war from both an English and a German perspective, as well as seeing how it affected the lives of people on either side of the class divide. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical or wartime fiction, and also if you enjoy ‘below stairs’ or country house narratives.
August 22, 2022
Thank you so much to The Book Network and publishers for sending me a copy of this beautiful book in exchange for an honest review.
I really adored this novel, and the complex relationship between the two eponymous characters. Part heart-warming, part moving, part beautifully descriptive, it depicts female friendship brilliantly, particularly being set during the mid-years of the Great War. The careful balance in the writing of female independence AND dependence on other females works wonderfully. Not to mention, there are some stark and fascinating contrasts between the articulate descriptions of nature, and the brutality of the war.
Definitely recommend !
I really adored this novel, and the complex relationship between the two eponymous characters. Part heart-warming, part moving, part beautifully descriptive, it depicts female friendship brilliantly, particularly being set during the mid-years of the Great War. The careful balance in the writing of female independence AND dependence on other females works wonderfully. Not to mention, there are some stark and fascinating contrasts between the articulate descriptions of nature, and the brutality of the war.
Definitely recommend !
August 8, 2022
Short but very sweet story. WW2 from the perspectives of people you rarely hear from….
Harriet, born into wealth, headstrong and proud. Emilie, born in Germany and moved to England with her mother, quiet and intelligent with her head in books. Both find an unusual friendship in that era. Then the war starts and everything changes…
Upsetting in parts as you can imagine, but a lovely heart warming ending.
Harriet, born into wealth, headstrong and proud. Emilie, born in Germany and moved to England with her mother, quiet and intelligent with her head in books. Both find an unusual friendship in that era. Then the war starts and everything changes…
Upsetting in parts as you can imagine, but a lovely heart warming ending.
August 31, 2022
🥀Harriet and Emilie by Eleanor Watkins is a short historical fiction set in the 1900s. It revolves around the lives of two girls named Harriet & Emilie, the former being a daughter of an aristocrat, the latter being a German servant's daughter. The servant works for the aristocratic family & the two girls become best of friends over time.
🥀Harriet, being a privileged child, is somewhat spoilt. She's headstrong & lacks the mannerisms of a lady but is still a sweet & kind hearted kid. Emilie, on the other hand, is intelligent & polite. Their friendship is truly beautiful.
🥀The historical & political background shows that the setting is of early 1900s. Even though Harriet's parents are good to the servants, we still see the glimpse of class difference. Life is different on both sides.
🥀WW1 begins; people volunteer. The most heartbreaking part is that Emilie, being a German servant's daughter, has to leave Britain. The place that she called home all her life, suddenly doesn't have any room for her. I liked how the author portrayed the chaos, the confusion and the despair Emilie went through. I also liked how Harriet's character matured with time. She volunteered, faced challenges & became strong.
🥀The ending couldn't have been better. It was heartwarming!
🥀Harriet, being a privileged child, is somewhat spoilt. She's headstrong & lacks the mannerisms of a lady but is still a sweet & kind hearted kid. Emilie, on the other hand, is intelligent & polite. Their friendship is truly beautiful.
🥀The historical & political background shows that the setting is of early 1900s. Even though Harriet's parents are good to the servants, we still see the glimpse of class difference. Life is different on both sides.
🥀WW1 begins; people volunteer. The most heartbreaking part is that Emilie, being a German servant's daughter, has to leave Britain. The place that she called home all her life, suddenly doesn't have any room for her. I liked how the author portrayed the chaos, the confusion and the despair Emilie went through. I also liked how Harriet's character matured with time. She volunteered, faced challenges & became strong.
🥀The ending couldn't have been better. It was heartwarming!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews