Many years ago, before she married Fergus, she was Philomena Dooley, a daughter of Irish Travelers, planning to wed her childhood sweetheart, Patrick Mahone. But when tragedy struck and Patrick's narrow-minded sister, Nora, intervened, the lovers were torn apart.
Fate can be cruel, and when Queenie arrives in London she finds that Patrick Mahon is her parish priest, and that the love she had tried to suppress flares again in her heart. But now in the final months of WW2, Queenie discovers Father Mahon is dying and must face losing him forever.
Can she finally tell him the secret she has kept for over fifty years or will Nora once again come between them? And if Queenie does decide to finally tell Patrick, could the truth destroy the Brogan family? (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon)
I’ll admit, this is my first trip with the Ration Book series–but A Ration Book Victory was easily read as a standalone, and I never felt as though I didn’t completely understand the characters and how they’re connected to one another. It was interesting to see the vast differences between experiences from when Queenie is a young woman, and then the fast forward to 1945, when the world is at odds and there is a lot of uncertainty with who to trust and how to move forward in what feels like new terrain. Life seemed to be a lot more simpler for Queenie in her childhood, up until the love of her life was ripped from her, in a way that made him available in many ways, but not in the ways she wanted him to be.
Some of my favorite scenes included the ones with Queenie and Patrick from their youth, and later in the more present time. There is an underlying yearning that time hasn’t been able to erase, even though their lives have taken them in two entirely different directions. It was mournful to witness, but in a way that only endeared me more to them and their story. There were little bread crumbs dropped along the way, subtle clues that let the reader in on what might be the thing that Queen has kept secret for so long, but done in a way so that you didn’t want to rely on it too much, because it would only make you second guess the secret.
Despite the large time difference between then and our present time, I felt like a lot of what the Brogan clan go through are still issues faced today–particularly with one character, Jo, who is dealing with fertility complications. It was a relatable experience for many couples. I appreciated that I got to know Queenie’s family so intimately and look forward to checking out the other books in the Ration Book series!
Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.
In 2006 she won the Harry Bowling Prize and now has seventeen sagas published over three series all of which are set in East London.
She is an experienced public speaker with hundreds of WI and women’s club talks under her belt, plus for the past fifteen years she has sailed all over the world as an enrichment speaker and writing workshop leader on cruise ships.
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