The Call of the Wrens
Book Feature - The Call of the Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh
HBL Note: Jenni L. Walsh is the author of Becoming Bonnie, Side by Side, A Betting Woman, and now A CALL OF THE WRENS. I’ve been fan-girling Jenni and her novels since 2017 when I read her first adult novel, Becoming Bonnie about Bonnie Parker of the infamous duo, Bonnie and Clyde. I’ve read every (adult) book she’s written since then and I think each one has been better than the last. For a year I’d tell anyone who’d listen that they needed to read A Betting Woman, which I just couldn’t stop thinking about long after I’d turned that last page. It still seems to be stuck with me.
I recently interviewed Jenni for the Best of Women’s Fiction podcast, her episode airs on November 19. You can ask to be notified of the premier or watch the interview in video form below. I think Jenni is one of the most under-recognized authors of historical fiction right now. I absolutely adore her books but they don’t seem to get kind of hype I think they deserve. If you haven’t read a Jenni L. Walsh book, then you’re in for a treat (and I bet you just found your new favorite historical fiction author!)
Scroll down to read all about her latest novel, THE CALL OF THE WRENS, which Elise Hooper, author of Angels of the Pacific, described as “a wonderful tale inspired by the real-life women’s branch of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. This dual-timeline novel features two courageous heroines, Marion and Evelyn, roaring around Europe on motorbikes during both world wars. Thrilling missions, family secrets, romance—it’s all here. We need more books like this that show the remarkable contributions made by adventurous women during the darkest of times.”
Book Feature - The Call of the Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh
Book Feature - The Call of the Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh
From the publisher:
An orphan who spent her youth without a true home, Marion Hoxton found in the Great War something other than destruction. She discovered a chance to belong. As a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service—the Wrens—Marion gained sisters. She found purpose in her work as a motorcycle dispatch rider assigned to train and deliver carrier pigeons to the front line. And despite the constant threat of danger, she and her childhood friend Eddie began to dream of a future together. Until the battle that changed everything.
Now twenty years later, another war has broken out across Europe, calling Marion to return to the fight. Meanwhile others, like twenty-year-old society girl Evelyn Fairchild, hear the call for the first time. For Evelyn, serving in the war is a way to prove herself after a childhood fraught with surgeries and limitations from a disability. The re-formation of the Wrens as World War II rages is the perfect opportunity to make a difference in the world at seventy miles per hour.
Book Feature - The Call of the Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh
Book Feature - The Call of the Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh
