While Lynes has documented the war cause on the home front, she has gone beyond just telling the story of four women in a factory. Each of the protagonists has some deep secret or obstacle they need to overcome. And the drama they create or endure makes for a great read.

http://tinyurl.com/qb46jtr ( )

Fun at times, and interesting for the history, but I didn't really understand the... point of it? ( )

The Factory Voice was really quite a fun read and interesting too. It's takes place during WW11, in Nothern Ontario , at a war plane factory. The point of view alternates between 4 different woman and their very different perspectives - one a 16 year old who wanted to escape the farm and marriage, another woman who is an engineer and is an " older woman" of 34, and never married. Florence is a "Red Finn" - a young woman who has never been accepted into Canadian society due to the "Red Finn" as in " communist Finnish " immigrants we once had. Then there is the vain young woman, Ruby, who spends her time primping for men, and hoping to make it big as reporter in the big city. It's quite a fun and breezy novel, but shed a lot of light on that time in history and gave a great sense of place . 3.5 stars ( )

I adored this book or, at least, I adored the story in this book.

It's 1941 and the war machine is cranking out planes just as fast as it can. Fort William Aviation is doing its bit by building Mosquito airplanes. But it needs workers, lots of workers to staff at least two shifts a day. They advertise all over the country. One of the people who reads the ad is Audrey, a 16-year-old farm girl from Spruce Grove, Alberta. Audrey is determined she isn't going to be made to marry the hired hand so she takes her parents' savings, hops on a train and heads east to Fort William. Also on the train is Muriel from Vancouver. Muriel is considerably older than Audrey and far more educated as she has trained as an aeronautical engineer. She is heading to Fort William Aviation to take up the post of Chief Engineer. The planes being turned out by the plant have been having problems and recently the test pilot broke his leg when the plane he was testing crashed. At the plant both Audrey and Muriel encounter Ruby, the head stenographer and chief writer of "The Factory Voice", the plant newspaper. Ruby is gorgeous, smells great and has a high opinion of her writing skills. Ruby is also in charge of hiring everyone and she agrees to hire Audrey as the snack cart girl. Ruby has also managed to get her childhood friend, Florence, a job even though Florence's mother is known as a "Red Finn". Florence is overweight, big-footed, has rotten teeth; in short she and Ruby are complete opposites.

All of these women have dreams and aspirations. Their work throws them together more than they otherwise would be. None of them are what you could call experienced when it comes to men. Ruby has had sex which resulted in a pregnancy that she terminated by visiting a doctor in Toronto but other than that experience she doesn't seem too interested in men. Audrey isn't interested in men romantically; in fact, she is probably a lesbian and is in love with Ruby. Muriel hasn't really had a boyfriend since she was young and that ended prematurely when her mother (a judge) sent him away to jail. Florence would like to have a boyfriend but she has always been big and ungainly. As they build their airplanes they also try to find love, not an easy task when men are in short supply.

I easily visualized these women from the descriptions Jeanette Lynes gave them. I could just see little Audrey wheeling that snack cart around the plant and Ruby typing away while trying to think of a big story that would get her noticed. Muriel, with her cane and her cigarettes sitting at her drafting table, was another clear picture. I think the one I really related to was Florence. I've been that overweight, ungainly girl looking for love in all the wrong places. I survived and so will Florence. ( )

Note: this review is of the book as it appeared on the CBC podcast "Between the Covers". It is also kind of spoilery so do not read if you do not want to be spoilered!

This book tells the story of four women whose lives are connected by the aircraft factory at Fort William, now Thunder Bay, Ontario, during the Second World War. Ruby is the daughter of the factory owner, essentially head of Personnel, and writes a little newsletter called The Factory Voice, hoping for a story to give her a ticket out of town. Audrey is a fresh-faced kid from Spruce Grove, Alberta, who drives the snack wagon and is enlisted by Ruby to sniff out stories. Muriel is the chief engineer, an extremely intelligent woman whose goal is to design better landing gear for aircraft. Florence is a childhood friend of Ruby's and works on the riveting line, enjoying the independence her income gives her and the skills she is learning. Throughout the book the characters' stories connect and separate, and we get different perspectives on situations as the narrative focus changes.

It took me a couple of installments (each Between the Covers episode is about 15 minutes long) to really get into the book, mainly because I had to get used to the narrator's voice. Since there was only one narrator, a lot of the book felt the same. The parts that worked best were the parts with Audrey, and to a lesser extent Ruby. Perhaps this book would have been more effective in audio format if there had been a different voice for each female character, to signal that the focus had changed.

The book itself was enjoyable. The female protagonists are very likeable, and it's always nice to see female engineers, especially ones who design aircraft! The part where Muriel takes a test flight in a Mosquito was probably my favourite: the detail was good and it felt like you were right there in the plane with her. I also enjoyed the newsletter articles, which were written with a great deal of pep and vigour. The only thing I would really quibble with in terms of plot is that I didn't think Muriel should have been connected with both of the coincidental males, Thaddeus Brink and Roper McLaughlin. One improbable coincidence per character please.

I would recommend this book, more likely in print format, to those who enjoy books with lots of female characters, multiple narrative perspectives and WW2 homefront kind of novels. ( )