Michelle Rawlins

Christmas Hope for the Steel Girls picks up right where The Steel Girls left off. Betty is reunited with her lovely William who she thought had forgotten about her, Nancy's Bert is off fighting goodness knows where and she's trying to keep it together for their children, and Patty is her usual happy-go-lucky self with her new man, Archie. All three women are working at Vickers Steel Works in Sheffield and are really starting to find their feet after a difficult start.

It was really nice to catch up with the girls again and follow their progress through the war. We're still in 1939 heading towards the first Christmas of the war and at that point things hadn't really got going but families were already starting to feel the pinch. This book focuses a lot on make do and mend, with Betty coming up with all kinds of plans to help those less fortunate and struggling to manage. It was lovely to see her landlady, Mrs Wallis, stepping forward as a character and I really enjoyed the new friendship that she finds with another of the characters.

After a relatively stable time of it, the ending was unexpected and I'm sure paves the way for book three of this series. I wonder what will happen next and what's in store for Betty, Nancy and Patty as the war really gets underway in 1940

Christmas Hope for the Steel Girls is a sweet and gentle read. For me, the Sheffield references and places make it more special but this is a lovely story to remind you of the power of friendship and the human spirit, especially in the run up to Christmas.… (plus d'informations)

I've been looking forward to reading The Steel Girls since I first heard that Michelle Rawlins was writing it. She's taken all the research, knowledge and first-hand accounts that she garnered whilst writing her non-fiction book, Women of Steel, and applied it to this, her first work of fiction.

The Steel Girls is set in Sheffield and focuses on the women who, during World War II, went to work in the steelworks for which the city is so well known. We meet Nancy, Betty and Patty, the girls of the title. Nancy is the eldest of the three, not old enough to be Betty and Patty's mother, but she becomes the mother figure of the group when she joins the workforce at Vickers steelworks to keep her mind off what is happening to her husband after he is called up. Betty puts her ambitions to be a lawyer on hold and Patty is really just after a fella to call her own. The women forge a strong friendship amidst the harsh working conditions.

I thought this was an absolutely delightful read in the saga genre, a gentle story with an undercurrent of pure grit. The women face not only prejudice from the men who think a woman can't do their job, but also the dangerous, noisy and dirty factory environment. I can't possibly imagine how scary it must have been to enter the building and be faced with the heat and the racket but Rawlins certainly helped me to envisage it.

This first book in the trilogy concentrates on the very beginning of the war, as men are called up and women learn to cope without them. I really felt for Nancy, Betty and Patty as they learned a new way to live, showing tremendous courage and more than a touch of feistiness. I thought they were really lovely characters and felt that the author poured her heart and soul into bringing them to life. This is a story of friendship, camaraderie, and just getting on with it. I'm really looking forward to catching up with the girls in book two, Christmas Hope for the Steel Girls.… (plus d'informations)

As a born and bred Sheffielder, Women of Steel was a must-read for me. Michelle Rawlins has delved deeply into the lives of the women of Sheffield who kept the steel industry running when the men went to war. Predominantly focusing on the Second World War, the role of women during the First World War is not overlooked.

For a non-fiction book to engage me it has to have an element of warmth, a feeling of not just giving facts but doing so with care and attention. Rawlins has achieved this with Women of Steel and many times I found tears springing to my eyes as I read of what the women and their families endured.

Feisty is the word to describe these incredible women. Some of them chose to sign up to do these jobs in an industry that was exclusively the domain of men until they were called away to war, but some of them were conscripted. Either way, each of them put their back into it and did all they were asked and more. I loved reading of the ways they proved themselves to the foremen and co-workers who didn't think they were capable of the kind of heavy-duty work that was required of them.

Rawlins has done an incredible amount of research and quite clearly enjoyed it all. She spent time with some of the women and their families to build up a real sense of camaraderie and pulling together. There is no doubt that these are the women who helped to win the war.

Whilst I rejoiced in their strength, I was also horrified at what they endured, the hardships, the terrible sights, particularly after the Sheffield blitz, and the psychological effects that their husbands came home with. Several times I had my hand over my mouth with shock.

Women of Steel is a wonderful book. It not only brings wartime in Sheffield to life, but also reminds us that many people did so much behind the scenes and made so many sacrifices. Thankfully the women finally got the recognition they deserved, some 70 years after the end of the war, and now with this book their individual stories are being heard. Michelle Rawlins has such a delightful writing style and I was so pleased to hear she has been commissioned to write a fiction series about the women of steel.… (plus d'informations)