Can she put right the secrets of the past?

London, 1939. Winnie Berry has been the landlady of the Battersea Tavern for nearly twenty-five years, and the pub is like home to her – a place of tears and laughter, full of customers that feel like family. A place where she’s learned to avoid the quick fists of her husband, and where she’s raised her beloved son, David.

He’s inherited his father’s lazy streak and can’t seem to hold down a job, but when war is declared Winnie is determined to keep her son safe. She’s still haunted by the choice she made years ago as a desperate young woman, and she won’t make the same mistake of letting her family be taken from her…

But when a young woman crosses her path, the secrets of Winnie’s past threaten to turn her world upside down. There’s nothing stronger than a mother’s love – but can it ever have a second chance?

My Thoughts:

This is book one in the Battersea Tavern Series and I cannot wait for the next one as book one was really good. I liked how the story flowed and you felt as though you were there in the thick of it. It’s set in 1939 and the Second World War has just been declared, we meet the Berry family who own the Battersea Tavern, Winnie is the mother and wife who looks after everything especially her nasty piece of work husband and her son is not really any better, they both take advantage of her in such cruel ways but she does it because she loves them. She has a secret she has been hiding from the both of them, but when a stranger comes into the pub will Winnie have to unlock the secret that has been kept hidden for a very long time? I loved all the characters apart from Winnie’s husband and Son, they were both so horrible to Winnie and I wanted to look after her and tell her to leave them both to it. It was interesting to see what life was like then and also life in that era working in a pub, I found it very interesting and the story was engaging. I have never read any of Kitty Neale’s books but I will definitely be reading more in the future and I look forward to the second book in this series in great anticipation.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

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