A Songbird in Wartime

Karen Dickson 

A YOUNG singer with a voice that melts hearts takes the starring role in a drama-packed saga set in the beautiful West Country. A Songbird in Wartime comes from the pen of Karen Dickson (pictured below), an author who started writing stories when she was just a child and has always been interested in social history. 

Her heartwarming sagas may be set in the rolling hills of Dorset but are inspired by the stories of her grandparents who lived in the North and grew up in the early part of the twentieth century.

Drawing on their vivid descriptions and memories, Dickson’s new rollercoaster tale stars a girl whose loyalty to the man she loves is tested through enmity, fame, misunderstanding and the uncertainties of wartime.

At Shaftesbury in 1936, the prestigious Mansfield House Hotel has been a refuge for 20-year-old Emily Baker ever since she was orphaned at the age of sixteen. Not only did they give her employment as a chambermaid, but it’s also where she met her fiancé Tom Harding, the hotel’s gardener.

Emily’s greatest gift, however, is her singing voice with its rich intensity and flawless purity, a talent recognised by the hotel manager who turns her into the hotel’s star turn, attracting audiences from the surrounding villages and towns.

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But when ruthless Bristol theatre agent Roland Thurston stays at the hotel and hears Emily singing, he is determined to take her away to Bristol and make her a star. And when he learns that Emily would never leave her fiancé, he hatches a plan to get her away from Tom.

Six years later, Emily has made a name for herself as the Bristol Songbird. Her love for Tom is still as strong as ever, but she has not heard from him since a long ago fateful night when her life

turned upside down. And with the world now enveloped in a war, it seems unlikely the two will ever meet again. Will Emily and Tom ever find their way back to one another or will the war – and Roland – succeed in keeping them apart?

Beautifully written with what is fast becoming her signature warmth and empathy, Dickson’s new page-turner brings us a brave, determined and inspirational heroine in a gripping story packed with emotion, heartache and intrigue. Featuring a cast of vibrant and authentic characters, the evocative backdrop of wartime and the world of theatre, and a story that will have you booing the baddies and rooting for our heroine, this is a gritty and ultimately uplifting tale with friendship, family and love at its core.
(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £7.99)