Christmas with the Surplus Girls
Manchester, August 1922
After the sorrows of war, can Christmas wishes come true?
Manchester, 1922. Nancy Pike is out of her depth. A pupil at the Miss Heskeths' school for surplus girls, she's blundering through her lessons and her job placements. She never wanted to leave her beloved pie-shop job, but she knows she needs to better herself. Her only joy is getting to know the children at St Anthony's orphanage. And working for Mr Zachary Milner twice a week.
Zachary's new business is off to a flying start. Alone in the world since the death of his brother, he's determined to do well for the both of them. And Nancy's presence has brought a little sunshine back into his life. But when she makes a terrible mistake that puts his livelihood in jeopardy, he has no choice but to let her go.
As Nancy struggles to find a way to make it up to him, she must also try to make this Christmas the best the orphans have ever seen - or risk losing yet another chance to help her family. As she battles the prejudices around her, and her own fear, can she bring a little Christmas cheer to the orphanage, and maybe even to Zachary Milner?
Review in Frost Magazine
I make no secret of the fact I love Polly Heron’s books, so the moment the review copy of this one was available I requested it and dived straight in. For a start, I think the premise of this series is brilliant; the stories of the women who had expected to marry, only for the First World War to kill so many men. Their battle to make something of their lives as single women in the 1920s is seldom told and quite frankly it should be.
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A saga series needs central characters and in the Surplus Girls these take the form of unmarried sisters, Prudence and Patience Hesketh, who run a business school from their home to train women in the skills they need. In this, the third book, our understanding of their position deepens and their stories move on too, for one of them at least in a quite unexpected way.
Christmas with the Surplus Girls is a wonderful blend of the comfortingly familiar (characters from previous books making appearances, the orphanage as the heart-warming seasonal setting, and, of course, the love story) with quite a few twists and turns. There are moments when nothing is quite as it seems, as well as breath-takingly written passages of true drama, but to say more would spoil it for the reader.
For the saga fan, this is the perfect Christmas read. As ever with Polly Heron’s writing there is no mawkish sentimentality, there is genuine emotion, elegantly portrayed. And even better, if you haven’t read the other Surplus Girls books there is still time to catch up with them before it’s time to pour yourself a glass of festive cheer and settle down with this beauty.
| This is the beautiful audiobook cover. |  |
Spotlight on Nancy Pike:
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Here's what readers say about Nancy in reviews:
"a sweet and wonderful character"
"Nancy's happy and caring nature shines throughout the book and what she lacks in office skills she makes up for with a huge, warm heart.
"I fell in love with Nancy as she is one of those characters who always gives of her best, even if things don't always work to plan!" |
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Aged 19 when the book opens, Nancy was never that bothered about school. She wasn't particularly gifted academically so she concentrated on the practical lessons – needlework, cookery and housework. She was lucky: her school was one of those with a nursery attached so that the older girls could have childcare lessons, and she enjoyed those. When she left school in 1916, hers was the last year of girls that did mothercraft. Even then, the authorities knew they were going to have a generation of surplus girls on their hands after the war ended.
Nancy lives with her parents and sisters in a crowded flat. Mum MARJORIE is a worn-out invalid suffering from pernicious anaemia. The family never has enough money and life has been a struggle for as long as Nancy can remember. Dad PERCY, for all that he is such a decent bloke and so hard-working, has somehow never managed to provide adequately for his family.
Nancy works in the pie-shop. It is an early start and she is on her feet all day, but she loves the customers. Percy takes the wind out of her sails by telling her she needs to better herself and he has arranged for her to attend a business night-school. Nancy tries to wriggle out of it. Learn office skills? Her? You must be joking. But Percy is adamant. Not only must she attend but she has to live in. Nancy is distraught. Does Percy want to get rid of her?
Readers took to Nancy right away, one of the reasons being that they liked the fact that she wasn't any good at office work! For reasons that she doesn't find out about until later on in the story, Nancy is plucked from her comfortable life behind the counter in the pie shop and dumped in the secretarial school run by Prudence and Patience Hesketh. Readers - I suppose being accustomed to heroines who are good at what they do - really loved it when Nancy couldn't get to grips with the new skills that she was obliged to learn.
Although she feels overwhelmed and inadequate in her new environment, Nancy has her strong points. She is a well-meaning and caring person with a kind heart, who would do anything to help make life easier for her beloved mother. Working in the pie shop, chatting to customers from all walks of life, has given Nancy a certain knowledge of the world and while she might not be academically clever, she isn't a fool. Above all, she is hugely loyal to her family and will put her own safety at risk in order to help them.
Book Group Questions
1. What are your first impressions of Nancy? How does she see herself?
2. What are Nancy’s strengths and weaknesses in her various places of work?
3. How does Prudence’s relationship with Vivienne develop in the course of the story? What does Prudence learn about herself because of it?
4. What sort of person is Zachary? How does the memory of his twin brother affect him?
5. Compare Prudence Hesketh with Mrs Rostron.
6. In what ways does Nancy display strength during the story?
7. How Christmassy is the book?
8. The Miss Heskeths are from the respectable, educated middle class, but they have little money. How does this affect their way of life?
9. In what ways is the theme of ‘family’ explored in the story?
10. Which character do you like the least/the most? Why?