April book club - Dear Mrs Bird

GeminiJen

Maggiemaybe...Snap! I spotted that too.....and had the same mental picture of Mrs Bird's reaction

Pittcity....Am I a bad person to want Charles to be removed somehow from the scene and Mr Collins to emerge as the new romantic hero?!!

You are definitely not a bad person if you like Mr Collins! I’m so pleased he has lots of fans. I am afraid I am not allowed to give any clues about what will happen next….I wish I could!

Waveney

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a light refreshing read, and I liked the forties language, which rather reminded me of my dad. I agree with a previous post that it did remind me a little of the language used in the children's books I enjoyed as a child. (mostly Enid Blyton!)

The story was realistic and flowed naturally- nothing seemed contrived. Emmy was an interesting narrator, and the formidable Mrs Bird is well drawn. I really wanted to know what happens next, and I wonder if it is the author's intention to write a sequel. It would make a good Sunday evening programme.

I would like to ask the author how many of the characters were based on real people (she seems to imply that at least some are in the notes at the end)

However the best point for me has been that I can finally pass on a book to my lovely step mum. She is quite conservative in her tastes, and most novels are too racy for her ( or so she tells me! She isn't really like Mrs Bird! ) I think she will enjoy this one.

Thank you ,GN, for another good choice.

Thank you so much. The sequel is definitely on its way, and the dream is that a Sunday night TV series might happen! Many of the characters have elements of real people in them, or have been inspired by something someone has said. It can be the smallest thing – even a
seemingly throwaway comment. Bunty certainly has qualities of best friends I have been lucky enough to have. I hope that Emmy certainly has the spirit of the women I spoke with who were young during the war. And then, Charles for example, was very much inspired by a
photograph I have of a young officer who just looks the kindest person in the world. So the characters come from all sorts of places.

rocketstop

I agreed with Maggiemaybe: I started reading the book and thought I wasn't going to be able to put up with the brittle tone of the 'Stiff upper lip' language, it reminded me of an old black and white Sunday afternoon film !
However I guess the clipped voices were very much in evidence at that time, but I would have liked to have heard more ordinary voices as well as the 'Upper crust' ones.
Carrying on into the book, I felt we got to the real meat on the bones of the story, the characters started to become fully drawn and each took on their own full personality.I could definitely 'See' Mrs Bird in her tweeds and her no nonsense brogues, the eccentricity of Mr Collins and the 'Under the radar' personality of the constant Kathleen.
I think maybe thetre would be more to tell about Bunty and what happens to her next, also what happens to Emmy now? Does she become the journalist she wanted to be? Does Charles survive anmd do things develop between them ? These are all avenues another book could investigate, A. J, would you consider writing more about these people ? Despite my first impressions, I ended up caring what happened to them ! Well done !

AJP: Absolutely! I’m so pleased readers are interested in hearing more about the characters. Many of them will be back in book two.

grannyqueenie

I wondered if the author had wartime experiences from her extended family to draw on?

Yes, my parents were children/teenagers during the war and one of the nicest things about writing Dear Mrs Bird has been chatting to them about their experiences and recollections about my grandparents. I’ve learnt things about them that I hadn’t known before and while I haven’t used actual family events in the novel, it has been enormously inspiring.