Birmingham Blitz [Paperback]

Annie Murray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 1998

It's August, 1939. Genie Watkins, a Birmingham kid, would love to have a proper happy family like her Italian friend, Teresa. But Genie hasn't reckoned with the outbreak of war, her already rocky family being split up and the strangely liberating effect it all has on her mother ...Under Birmingham skies darkened by blackout Genie shares her fears and hopes with Teresa, keeps her spirits up with her nan and glamorous auntie Lil, and tries to hold her family together. And amid it all, she discovers love...Collect the Birmingham set: "Birmingham Rose" and "Birmingham Friends".

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Annie Murray was born in Berkshire and read English at St John's College, Oxford. Her first 'Birmingham' novel, Birmingham Rose, hit The Times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has subsequently written many other successful novels, including The Bells of Bournville Green, sequel to the bestselling Chocolate Girls, and A Hopscotch Summer. Annie has four children and lives near Reading.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan (July 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330367889
• ISBN-13: 978-0330367882
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 1.1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,558,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars War time England, May 14, 2007

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birmingham Blitz (Paperback)

This is the story of an ordinary working class family in the north of England in 1939. War has just been declared and all of the eligible men have been called up for the armed services. The women left at home with their families of children, elderly parents and extended families, must battle as best as they can to keep things an an even keel. The first blow comes with the evacuation of their children to country areas to escape the bombing, and then the installation of Anderson shelters, flimsy constructions of corrugated iron covered with dirt. At first, it's a bit of an adventure but when the bombing continues by day and night, the people are literally exhausted and become like living robots, going to their jobs by day and crouching in the shelters or under the stairs by night. Genie Watkins is an attractive teenager, working in a local factory and trying to cope with her ever dissatisfied mother, Doreen, who is bored with her husband and who takes up with another man as soon as her husband is out of the way, in the army. She becomes pregnant to her lover but he takes off as soon as she announces that she is expecting. She attempts suicide but fails, leaving her daughter Genie and her elderly mother to cope with her as an invalid, adding more burdens to their already overloaded lives. It's a homely story of working class people getting on with their lives in the face of unbelievable danger and who typify the spirit of a race who refused to be crushed by the evil of Hitler.

3.0 out of 5 stars An ok read, October 16, 2010

By 

M. E. Newell (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birmingham Blitz (Paperback)

Genie Watkins is a young girl coming of age in Birmingham when the war breaks out. With her bother heading the country and her father going to France, Genie is left to deal with her family. A mother stepping out and having another man's baby and a uncle who is challanged. But while the bombs are dropping Genie finds herself falling in love with son of her boss. But in wartime and each raid lives can change quickly.
"Birmingham Blitz" by Annie Murray was an okay book. While I enjoyed it I have confess that after a while with so many characters I began to lose interest and I had to force myself to finish it. Overall "Birmingham Blitz" was a decent book but it really didn't hold my interest.