About the book, A New Year for the Seaside Girls
- Publisher: Boldwood Books (April 14, 2023)
- Language: English
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Series: The Seaside Girls (Book 3 of 3)
Cover: A New Year for the Seaside Girls
Can the Seaside Girls embrace the new year with courage…
Cleethorpes – 1940
As the new year dawns the show at the Empire comes to an end and it’s time for the girls to move on.
Years of struggle are over for Frances O’ Leary when Johnny Randolph returns to make things right for her and their daughter – do they have a chance of happiness? of being a family after so long?
But their good fortune is fraught with complications when sister Ruby Randolph decides to have her last hurrah, leaving a trail of devastation in her wake.
Jessie Delaney is afraid to follow her dreams and leave those she loves behind – can she really have it all?
All the seaside girls have their own battles to fight. And while they figure things out it’s time for them to do their bit for the war and keep Britain smiling.
A gritty and heart-warming saga perfect for readers of Elaine Everest, Nancy Revell and Pam Howes.
Buy, read, and discuss this book:
Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Goodreads
About the author, Tracy Baines
Tracy Baines
Tracy Baines is the bestselling saga writer of The Variety Girls series, originally published by Ebury, which Boldwood will continue with. She was born and brought up in Cleethorpes and spent her early years in the theatre world which inspired her writing. The first title of her new saga series for Boldwood – set amongst the fisherfolk of Grimsby – was published in October 2022.
Connect with Tracy:
My Thoughts
MissMeliss
I’m late to the party on the Seaside Girls trilogy, so before I say anything else, please know: while reading the first two books would likely be helpful, A New Year for the Seaside Girls works just fine as a stand-alone novel. There was enough backstory, both explicit and in context, that the continuing elements were easy to follow, the the events specific to this novel were interesting and well written.
As a former theater kid, I always love stories that are set backstage and in the wings of performance spaces, and this novel is a perfect example of that. Set in 1940, against the early days of World War II, this book looks at what happens to working performers when theaters go dark, but bills still have to be paid, and life must continue. While this is, at heart, a family story with a hearty splash of romance, author Tracy Baines did not shy away from the gritty reality that comes with the theatrical life. Sometimes, accommodations can be sketchy. Sometimes gigs can be slightly unsavory. This book doesn’t soft-pedal those things, but it also isn’t a tragedy, and it does soften the edges somewhat to serve the story.
Frances, former lover of Johnny (and mother of his unknown-to-him child) and Ruby, Johnny’s sister and stage-partner, are the real stars of this novel, and it is their stories we follow. Both women are strong, capable, and determined, but they handle challenges in different ways. Where Frances builds a network of other performers, including a dancer who took care of her daughter for a long while, Ruby is the type to retreat. She comes out of her emotional hibernation when necessary, but her first reaction is to shield herself, and there is nothing wrong with that. What I liked about both characters is that they are loving and giving, each in her way, and they are never pitted as adversaries, just different personalities with different needs.
Johnny is the male lead, and he’s forced to be “the man” of both the performing family he has with his sister, and their parents (who are off-stage in many ways) and of the family he has formed and is rediscovering with Frances. What I liked about him was that he didn’t rush into his lover’s life and dictate changes. Instead, he supported her choices, even when his own desires were delayed.
Author Baines handles all the characters deftly, letting us see what teach is thinking and feeling while balancing plot and exposition.
Overall, this novel is a satisfying conclusion to a series that was clearly written with both love and expertise. It’s an historical family saga that mixes drama, romance, filial love, and “that business we call show,” into a meaty, satisfying story that should entertain any reader.
Goes well with: hot chocolate spiked with a splash of rum.
My Thoughts
The gripping new historical novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Girl from Bletchley Park and The Forgotten Secret.
Kathleen McGurl lives near the coast in Christchurch, England. She writes dual timeline novels in which a historical mystery is uncovered and resolved in the present day. She is married to an Irishman and has two adult sons. She enjoys travelling, especially in her motorhome around Europe but home is Mudeford, where this novel is set.
You won’t find happiness without breaking a few eggs …
Chris Penhall won the 2019 Choc-Lit Search for a Star competition, sponsored by Your Cat Magazine, for her debut novel, The House That Alice Built. The sequel, New Beginnings at the Little House in the Sun was published in August 2020. Her short story, Lily McKee’s Seven Days of Christmas appears in Choc Lit and Ruby Fiction’s Cosy Christmas Treats anthology.
Something I’ve learned in the last few years is that if a book has Chris Penhall as the author, it’s going to be a fabulous read. Finding Summer Happiness, the author’s most recent title completely supports my initial statement. Charming, with a bit of romance and a bit of intrigue, it came into my life when I really needed it, and put a smile on my face.
MURDER IS BLOSSOMING IN THE WELSH BORDERS.
Simon Whaley is an author, writer and photographer who lives in the hilly bit of Shropshire. Blooming Murder is the first in his Marquess of Mortiforde Mysteries, set in the idyllic Welsh Borders – a place many people struggle to locate on a map (including by some of those who live here). He’s written several non-fiction books, many if which contain his humorous take on the world, including the bestselling One Hundred Ways For A Dog To Train Its Human and two editions in the hugely popular Bluffer’s Guide series (The Bluffer’s Guide to Dogs and The Bluffer’s Guide to Hiking). His short stories have appeared in Take A Break, Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special, The Weekly News and The People’s Friend. Meanwhile his magazine articles have delighted readers in a variety of publications including BBC Countryfile, The People’s Friend, Coast, The Simple Things and Country Walking.
I love getting into a series when it’s brand new. I get to meet all the main characters and then look forward to their returns in future novels. I’m not spoiling anything when I tell you, I’m really looking forward to seeing where Simon Whaley’s new “Marquess of Mortiforde Mysteries” go from here.
I am a 63 year old Accountant who semi-retired to explore my love of creative writing. In my career I held Board level jobs for over twenty five years, in private, public and third sector organisations. I was born in Coventry, a city then dominated by the car industry and high volume manufacturing. Jaguar, Triumph, Talbot, Rolls Royce, Courtaulds, Massey Ferguson were the major employers, to name but a few.
At breaking point Jo deserts her dysfunctional family and possessive boyfriend, making an uncharacteristic escape to the Himalayas in a bid for freedom and self-knowledge. The peace she finds there helps her to unravel her turmoil, but unexpected challenges test her new-found equilibrium to the limit.
A career as a journalist/PR led to health writing for UK nationals newspapers and consumer magazines. Out of the blue I was inspired to write a novel, Finding Jo, which has taken some years to come to fruition, self-publishing in January 2021. I travelled a lot in my 20s and I have drawn on my three months’ trip to India in Finding Jo.
Many times during my read of Frances Ive’s Finding Jo, I felt like I was reading a real-life travelogue and not a novel. This is not a bad thing, as it only makes Jo and the rest of the characters feel more dynamic.
Ellie’s brand new enterprise, the True Loaf Bakery, is finally open and classes are due to start. But when Katja’s ski-ing holiday ends in disaster, a new teacher must be found very quickly. Anita is up for the challenge, but – fresh from a break-up and an operation that’s left her feeling physically and emotionally vulnerable – the last thing she’s looking for when she moves to Sunnybrook is a new relationship. So it’s Sod’s law that she should find herself with not one but two guys vying for her attention. Sven, from Denmark, is a bit of an enigma – but maybe passion lurks beneath his cool reserve? And as for twenty-five-year-old football coach Ross – surely she’d be asking for trouble getting involved with a gorgeous man a decade her junior? (Although her football-mad son Rufus seems to love him.)
Rosie has been scribbling stories ever since she was little.
Sweet Pastries and Sourdough at the Little Duck Pond Cafe is the fifteenth Little Duck Pond Cafe Book, but it’s the first I’ve read. Nevertheless, the characters and setting were all so vivid that I felt as though I’d been visiting the cafe for years.