Starting in the years just prior to World War I, Angels of Mercy by Lyn Andrews tells the story of the young people of one small street in a poor section of Liverpool. The author paints a vivid picture of this hard-working community, their daily struggles and the importance of family, work and religion.

When the war comes, the young men of the neighbourhood are eager to sign up and fight. All they can see is the adventure and glory of war. All to soon, one, a sailor on the HMS Victorious is dead as all on the ship are lost when it is sunk by U-boats. Determined to do their part, three of the girls sign up for nursing and are shipped to France. At the Battle of the Somme, the Regiment from Liverpool suffers terrible losses, and just about every house in the neighbourhood has to bear the death of a husband, a son or a brother. Over one hundred thousand men were lost at the Somme. Descriptions of conditions at the front for both the soldiers and nurses alike is horrifying. It’s not surprising that so many died from infections caused by unsanitary conditions.

A well written story showing the inner strength, hope and love that binds these characters together and allows them to carry on into an uncertain future. The author manages to tug on all your emotions and makes this a hard book to put down and walk away from. ( )

Kate and Evvie Greenway are twins, blue-eyed and blonde. Men flock around them, but both fall for "unsuitable" partners. But their sorrows are nothing to the tragedies the Great War brings and the men must go off to fight. They join the Voluntary Aid Detachment, and are sent to work at the front.

This was the first Lyn Andrews book I read, and since I have read more of her work. The book tugs at every single one of your emotions, and you won't be able to put it down.
It is such a change to read a book which comes from the point of view of the ordinary working class home front, rather than the brave soldiers fighting at the front. ( )