"THE THUNDER GIRLS" is a roller-coaster, compulsively gripping novel about the most successful girl band of the 1980s, which at the height of its success in 1989, is unceremoniously disbanded by its record label. Of the 4 women comprising 'The Thunder Girls' --- Chrissie, Roxanne, Carly and Anita ---, the decision had been made to launch Chrissie (the self-appointed leader of the band) on a solo career. The other 3 women are abruptly shown the door, and with its closing, so ends the friendship among the band members.

The reader is then carried forward 30 years to today's world driven by bling-bling and social media. Chrissie has fallen upon hard times after her latest husband (a 'boy-toy' model who had bewitched her) took her for every cent she had and disappeared. Her record label offers her one way out from absolute ruin by making her go out and find her 3 former bandmates with the aim of bringing back 'The Thunder Girls' for a one-time, richly lucrative "gathering of The Greats" 1980s music groups in concert at London's Wembley Stadium. 

Chrissie then embarks on a long and winding trek to find and persuade her 3 former friends to reassemble the band. Nothing proves to be so clear-cut. But the reader is amply rewarded with a multi-layered, poignant story in "THE THUNDER GIRLS" that has more hairpin curves than one can shake a stick at. Highly recommended.

"BOBBY'S GIRL" is a novel that contrasts what was the summer romance during 1968 between Penny John, a young Welsh art student in the U.S. (as part of a student exchange program with her best friend Kate) and Bobby Brosna, a 20-something American -- who turns out to be heir to an immense family fortune tightly controlled by a cruel, autocratic grandmother --- with the life 19 years later of the now nearing 40 Penny, who has managed to pick up the pieces from what had been a horrible tragedy in her life in 1968 and make a living for herself as an illustrator while raising a son largely on her own. 

The novel brings together the two time lines in Penny's life and ties up several loose ends from the past. On the whole, "BOBBY'S GIRL" is well-written and has a rather surprising ending. But it's not a novel that I would be inclined to re-read. I enjoyed the ride, but now I'm ready to seek other literary vistas. 

(The odd thing is that the title itself evoked for me the 1962 Marcie Blane song of the same name - 'BOBBY'S GIRL' --- which would run through my mind from time to time as I read this novel.)

"EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN" offers the reader a broad look into the lives of 4 people between September 1939 and June 1942. First there's Alistair Heath and his friend Tom Shaw. Both of them were sharing a place in London at the time war was declared. Alistair promptly enlisted in the Army while Tom (who didn't share Alistair's keenness to join the Forces and felt that the war would soon resolve itself) continued in his job in the education department. Then there's Mary North and her childhood friend Hilda. Mary - who hails from an affluent background with a father a Member of Parliament - returned to the UK from finishing school in Switzerland, set on finding a job that would put her in the heart of the war effort. She ends up being placed in a school to teach a number of pupils, one of whom is an illiterate African American boy named Zachary (whose father came over to the UK to work as an entertainer in a minstrel show). It proves to be a short-lived job as Mary's class is relocated to the countryside without her. Mary goes to see Tom - who has some pull in the system - to see if she can be placed in another teaching position. 

In the meantime, Alistair proceeds with his training, endures a rigorous, extended outdoor exercise, and is later sent to France with his unit. 

While the writing is generally good, the story of these 4 people as the war went on, didn't really gell with me. Mary seemed rather flippant, though she had a certain, at times admirable forthrightness. Once she got it in her mind that she was in love with Tom, she went after him. Tom comes across as the self-effacing, tight-lipped Englishman. Alistair's unit got caught up in the chaos of the German Blitzkrieg across Western Europe in the spring of 1940 and barely manages to escape to Britain via Dunkirk. He returns as a shell-shocked officer. For him, the war has already changed his outlook in many ways. He and Tom get together and Tom coaxes him into going out on a date with him and Mary and Hilda. Hilda sees the war as a great adventure and is eager to find a man who suits her fancy. Alistair seems to fit the bill. But the date was rather odd. I won't spell out the particulars of it. But shortly afterwards, Alistair's unit is posted overseas and the relationships among the 4 people become strange and rather convoluted. 

This novel is not a keeper.

"ON WITH THE DANCE" is a continuation of the 'Upstairs, Downstairs' series of novels and carries the Bellamys and their servants into the early post-World War I years. 

The novel begins in July 1919, on the day that the Victory Parade is scheduled to take place in London. Richard Bellamy, now a member of the House of Lords, had recently returned from France with his new wife Virginia (and her 2 young children; like Richard, she had been a widow for several years following the death of her first husband, a naval officer, early in the war), where they honeymooned and took in both the Paris Peace Conference and Versailles, where the peace treaty formally ending World War I had been signed on June 28th.

Since his remarriage, Richard is no longer living at 165 Eaton Place and is looking for a new house near Hyde Park with Virginia. He meets after the Parade has run its course, with James, his son, who is as morose and restless as ever. Though the war has been over for 8 months and James has fully recovered from the wounds he sustained at Passchendaele, he has been aimless and with little enthusiasm for getting his life on a firm track so that he can begin to move forward and settle himself. Georgina (his cousin by marriage - the 2 had hovered on the edge of falling into a full-scale wartime romance given the smoldering attraction each had for the other; however, since the Armistice and the various shocks - personal, social, and economic - taking place in Britain as everyone tried to adapt themselves to a peacetime world - their passion had ebbed and died, though both remained as close friends) tries to cajol James into enjoying the fireworks outside. But James' enthusiasm has apparently been used up through his earlier participation that day in the Victory Parade. 

The staff at Eaton Place has a new footman and under-parlour maid. Edward, now discharged from the Army, and his wife Daisy had left the employ of the Bellamys several months earlier to eke out a living for themselves. Both pay a visit to their former colleagues 'downstairs', trying to display a new air of confidence, that in truth, neither has. Edward's job as a door-to-door salesman isn't getting him any closer to establishing for himself, Daisy, and their unborn child the type of success he craves for himself. 

The novel goes on to take the reader into the lives of both the Bellamys and servants over the next 4 years. And what a whirlwind those years prove to be! Years full of happiness, heartbreak, and anguish. Again I couldn't help but marvel over how a novel with 156 pages could be so engaging and compelling.

“THE WAR TO END WARS” follows hard upon “The Years of Change”, seeing the Bellamys and their servants at 165 Eaton Place through the four years of the First World War. Richard Bellamy, the father, a Member of Parliament, is given - as the war progresses - additional duties and responsibilities through his work with the Admiralty. His son, James, has rejoined the Army and is sent to France before the end of 1914. At first, the war is like a liberation for James from the discontent and restlessness that had a great effect on his moods from time to time. (Hazel, his wife, suffered from his neglect and occasional harsh temper – yet busied herself in various social activities in support of the war effort.) He takes pride in being in command of troops at the Front and sharing in their joys, sufferings, and sorrows. But as the war drones on into stalemate, James becomes disillusioned with the war and while home on leave, made the mistake of making his views known to a journalist. As a result, he was posted to a staff position in the UK, which he hated. But eventually, he is given active command of a new unit and is sent back to France. (Unbeknownst to James, it was Hazel’s influence with one of the Army’s high-ranking officers she knew as a social acquaintance that brought about James’ combat posting.) In the meantime, young Georgina Worsley (she was 19 when the war began), determined to do her bit, volunteers in a nursing program and upon passing, does a lot of the menial work nurses were often given in UK hospitals. She also worked with doctors and tended to wounded soldiers brought home from France. Eventually, Georgina is sent to France, where she works in a field hospital not far from the Front.

The servants in the Bellamy’s household (Mr. Hudson, the head butler and the acknowledged leader of the staff ‘downstairs’; Mrs. Bridges, the cook; Edward, the footman; Ruby, who worked closely with Mrs. Bridges in the kitchen; Rose, the head parlour maid; and Daisy, the under parlour maid) experience many ups and downs that seem to parallel the course of the war itself. Edward joins the Army and marries Daisy (both are very much in love) shortly before he is posted to France with a close friend who had been Best Man at his wedding. There, he manages to survive the hell of the Battle of the Somme. After many months in France, he is granted leave and returns to Daisy just before Christmas 1916. Together, they see in the new year, 1917, along with the rest of the Bellamy staff. But Edward is not quite the same. His nerves are shot. Shell-shock.

How it was that Mollie Hardwick was able to pack in so much drama and suspense in 220 pages amazes me. There were moments in reading “THE WAR TO END WARS” that I had to hold my breath or hold back tears. The world of the Bellamys and their servants became my world, too. For anyone who was a fan of the original ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ TV drama or became a fan of ‘Downton Abbey’, you’ll love this book.