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A Novel (The Emmy Lake Chronicles)
by AJ Pearce
From the author of the bestselling "jaunty, heartbreaking winner" (People) Dear Mrs. Bird comes a charming and irresistible novel featuring plucky aspiring journalist Emmy Lake as she navigates life, love, and friendship in London during World War II.
London, April 1943. A little over a year since she married Captain Charles Mayhew and he went away to war, Emmy Lake is now in charge of "Yours Cheerfully," the hugely popular advice column in Woman's Friend magazine. Cheered on by her best friend Bunty, Emmy is dedicated to helping readers face the increasing challenges brought about by over three years of war. The postbags are full and Woman's Friend is thriving.
But Emmy's world is turned upside down when glamorous socialite, the Honorable Mrs. Cressida Porter, becomes the new publisher of the magazine, and wants to change everything the readers love. Aided by Mrs. Pye, a Paris-obsessed fashion editor with delusions of grandeur, and Small Winston, the grumpiest dog in London, Mrs. Porter fills the pages with expensive clothes and frivolous articles about her friends. Worst of all, she announces that she is cutting the "Yours Cheerfully" column and her vision for the publication's future seems dire. With the stakes higher than ever, Emmy and her friends must find a way to save the magazine that they love.
"Immersive... Pearce enhances the [story] with lively characters, showing how they find joy in simple pleasures and humor in the face of loss." —Publishers Weekly
"Clear a space on the shelf reserved for your favorite comfort books. Mrs. Porter Calling is the rare novel that manages to be deep as it is delightful. Funny, endearing, heartbreaking, and uplifting — it's a thoroughly entrancing story about friendship, work, and finding the best in life, even during the worst of times." —Nina de Gramont, author of The Christie Affair
This information about Mrs. Porter Calling was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
AJ Pearce grew up in Hampshire, England. She studied at the University of Sussex and Northwestern University. A chance discovery of a 1939 women's magazine became the inspiration for her series The Emmy Lake Chronicles, which includes Dear Mrs. Bird, Yours Cheerfully, and Mrs. Porter Calling. She lives in the south of England.
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