It’s 1922 and Nancy Pike is rather settled at her job in the pie shop. However, her father encourages her to better herself and enrols her as a new pupil at the Hesketh’s school for ‘surplus girls’.
At first, Nancy struggles to find her feet the world of admin but lands two placements. One at St Anthony’s orphanage and another working for Mr Zachary Milner, who has a new start up business selling fire extinguishers. When Nancy makes a huge mistake, which comes at a huge financial cost to Mr Milner he has no choice but to let her go.
Nancy is determined to make things up to Mr. Milner but is also determined that the orphans have the best Christmas they have ever known! Will she succeed in spreading festive cheer?
Having thoroughly enjoyed The Surplus Girls by Polly Heron I was delighted to receive an ARC of Christmas with the Surplus Girls, which is book no.3 in the series. (Admittedly I haven’t read book no.2 but didn’t find this hindered me). It was lovely to see the return of some of the characters in the previous book and to delve deeper into their lives and what happened to them after the prequel.
Like the rest of the books in the series, Christmas with the Surplus Girls is very much themed on the life of women in the 1920s and the difficulties and prejudices they faced. This book had a particular focus on the stigma of pregnancy outside of marriage.
Overall, 5 stars. Polly Heron writes in a way which really takes you back to the era. Perfect for any historical fiction fans.
Christmas with the Surplus Girls will be published on the 1st January 2022. Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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