The Shipyard Girls: (Shipyard Girls 1) Volume 1 Paperback - 2016

The Shipyard Girls by Nancy Revell is starts in August 1940 and England is at war. Rosie Thornton is the head welder at J.L. Thompson & Sons in the shipyards in Sunderland, and she will be getting some new recruits to train. Polly Elliot, Hannah, Gloria, Dorothy Williams, Martha Perkins and Mary are the new hires. Rosie sizes them up and figures one of them will not last the week (it turns out to be Mary). Welding is a tough job, but the women are up to the job. Rosie works hard at the shipyard during the day, but at night she has a second job. She is not proud of it, but she needs the money to support her sister, Charlotte. Their parents died in a car accident and their only other family is their sinister uncle, Raymond Gallagher. Rosie set up Charlotte at Runcorn Girls' School in Harrogate, Yorkshire. Rosie will do what she must to protect Charlotte. But Rosie is always afraid that her secret will get out. Polly lives with her mother, sister-in-law, and niece. Polly's twin brothers are off at war. Polly sees Tommy Watts one day when he emerges from the water at the shipyards. Tommy is a deep-sea diver and does underwater repairs to the ships. Polly is instantly attracted to Tommy (Tommy feels the same way). But Helen Crawford, the yard's manager daughter, has her own designs on Tommy. Helen is not going to let Polly get her in way and sets out to eliminate the competition. Each woman has her own troubles, but together this group can handle anything that comes their way. Join Polly, Hannah, Gloria, Dorothy, Martha, and Rosie in The Shipyard Girls. The Shipyard Girls is the first book in a new series. It is nicely written and easy to read. I enjoyed getting to know each character. This book focuses on Rosie, Polly, and Gloria for the most part. There is a little too much time spent on the romance between Polly and Tommy (I must admit to skimming a little through their mutual admiration section). This book reminds me of the works of Donna Douglas (I love her books). I give The Shipyard Girls 4 out of 5 stars (I liked it). There are a couple of slow sections, but they did not detract from my reading pleasure. I liked reading about these women and the work they did to help the war effort. The author did a good job with her research. I will be reading the next book titled The Shipyard Girls at War (no release date at this time).