The Coronation Party: The heart-warming and uplifting new saga for fans of Nancy Revell

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Shipyard manager Helen has had the year from hell yet she refuses to be beaten. Helen refuses to dwell on the past and is intent on focusing on the future and on making a success of both her personal and professional life. After one romantic disappointment after another, Helen has met the dashing Doctor Parker, a man who seems to be as attracted to her as she is to him. As the two continue to grow closer, could a future be in the cards for the pair of them? Or will their chance at happiness be thwarted? Not only is Helen’s personal life going great guns, but the determined ship manager also wants the yard to break the production record and nothing and nobody is going to stand in her way. But will Helen end up paying a very dear price for her ambition and determination? Sunderland, 1943: With the future of Britain uncertain, the shipyard girls fight to keep their lives on an even keel.

Triumph of the Shipyard Girls is the eighth book in the Shipyard Girls series from Nancy Revell which follows the ups and downs, the good times and the bad, in the lives of a group of women welders who work in the shipyards in Sunderland during World War Two. With each book I just love this series more and more and as we are progressing further through the series we are moving away from descriptions of the women's daily work welding and the routines they have in the ship yard. This is a good thing as now I feel the author is really concentrating on the women's personal stories much more. Storylines that began maybe a book or two ago are getting great attention and focus now and I am enjoying how everything is developing with some of the most important threads being continued throughout each book.The Shipyard Girls’ series goes from strength to strength and each new book in the series surpasses the previous book. I loved the fact that the series is set in Sunderland, Co. Durham. At the time that the book is set, Sunderland was in County Durham and it will forever be in County Durham to me. Although I don’t have any Shipyard Girls in my family, I do have several relatives who came from Sunderland and lived there during the time that the story is set. In a sense, reading books such as this one, gives me a greater sense of the conditions in which my relatives had to live under. I have to say that ‘The Shipyard Girls’ would be perfect for television adaptation. Nancy Revell is classed as being the new Catherine Cookson, but I have to say that I enjoy Nancy’s books far more than I enjoyed Catherine Cookson’s books. To me, Nancy Revell is the better author. The tensions of wartime, with men away and society experiencing upheavals, are shown. I expect I would like this better if I'd followed the series to date. I'm also not sure what the triumph of the title refers to, unless it's the end of the Desert War. It's the events of D-Day which lead to the most dramatic scenes of the novel, however. With Rosie, Polly and Gloria desperately longing for the safe return of their husbands and sons, this rollercoaster read left me emotionally wrought. I can't give anything away here - but I strongly advise having tissues ready...

As the world war continues the shipyard girls face hardships at home, but work and friendship give them strength to carry on. It somehow feels unfair to single out a single character for further analysis so instead I will focus on the two women welders Polly & Rosie and the lady in charge of the shipyard, Helen. Poor Polly has been through the mill a fair bit. She lost one of her brothers in an incident, whilst he was overseas. Her other brother also suffered whilst fighting for his country and he has been left with a disability. If that wasn't enough for the poor lass, then her handsome fiancé Tommy, who joined the navy, has been posted as being missing. Polly has found it hard to carry on, which is no wonder. I really felt for Polly and I so wanted her to get her happy ever after ending after all the trauma she has been through. A miracle happens and it emerges that Tommy is actually in a hospital having suffered quite serious injuries. Polly is over the moon but it emerges that the Tommy she knew and loved is different to the Tommy that she meets up with in the hospital. Tommy has suffered some quite severe emotional, mental and physical trauma. Will Tommy and Polly get married? Is there another twist in the Tommy and Polly story? Well for the answers to those questions and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out. More than a year has passed since Bel's wedding to sweetheart Joe. She knows she has much to feel thankful for and yet there is still one burning desire which she cannot ignore. I can’t but fail to mention some of the stalwarts in this series from day one. Rosie, the leader of the group, has always had a brilliant storyline. She features less so this time around but when she did I felt every minute of her pain, anger, despair and uncertainty that she has heard nothing from her husband Peter working undercover in France. She also has an awful lot to deal with on the home front but she is a gritty, determined and admirable character. I felt sorry for Polly, that she was faced with giving birth to her first child alone as her husband is away minesweeping in Gibraltar. She is really forced to slow down and it's not in her nature at all. I feared for her big time at one point and I hoped more heartache was not coming her way. As for Gloria she is like the mother of the group but she too is harbouring her own sadness and is willing things to come to a happy conclusion. Martha, Dorothy and Angie feature less but they do have interesting storylines so I’d love to see them coming more to the forefront in future books especially if other plots are starting to be resolved.A Christmas Wish For The Shipyard Girls’ is the 9th book in the bestselling series featuring ‘The Shipyard Girls’. I have been a fan of this series right from the very beginning. I have read, reviewed, loved and raved about every book in the series to date. As soon as I finish reading the latest book in the series, I immediately look forward to the next book in the series and (im)patiently wait until I can get my hands on a copy. ‘A Christmas Wish For The Shipyard Girls’ is the latest in the series and it was released on 1st October 2020. I was fortunate enough to have a sneaky peek at an early review copy and boy oh boy, it is another amazing addition to an amazing series written by an amazing author. I absolutely ADORED reading ‘A Christmas Wish For The Shipyard Girls’ but more about that in a bit. I cannot believe we have reached book nine and it is coming up to 1943 for the Shipyard Girls that I have grown to love over the previous books. History tells us that the Second World War is taking a new path and I know as I read there is some momentous changes abound. It worries me that we could be near the end of this wonderful series. And there is finally a glimmer of hope for Polly and her family when Bel and Joe fall in love. But it isn’t long before a scandalous revelation threatens to pull them all apart.

Meanwhile welder Dorothy has a feeling that her beau Toby is planning to pop the question when he's next on leave. But it seems that her head is being turned by someone closer to home... Helen, wishes that her mother and grandfather's influence has not got so deep seated within her and that she would never be good enough for Dr Parker, their friendship it seems is all that there will be. It feels that we've reached an important point in the series with one particular storyline coming to a head. The consequences of what happens here will undoubtedly continue to feature in the future but there are less secrets between the characters now and a real sense of moving forward. One of my favourite aspects of this series is the way in which the characters are allowed to change; Helen has already become a much different person but this time around we see a different, softer side to Bel's mother, Pearl. Bel herself is going through a difficult time and I really felt for her as she tries to cope with her understandable anger and desire for retribution while also dealing with her continued longing for another baby. This is not only my first book from this series, but also my first by this author – once again, I have been walking around with my eyes shut to have allowed this wonderful series pass me by. Polly’s sweetheart Tommy has been declared missing while serving overseas, and although there is no certainty that he is dead, there is no guarantee that he will return home. Now Polly needs her friends more than ever, and the other women welders are ready to rally around her while she waits for news.

Publication Order of Shipyard Girls Books

THE FIFTH NOVEL IN THE COMPELLING SHIPYARD GIRLS SERIES FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, NANCY REVELL. Both women are determined that their love and faith will be enough to keep the most difficult of promises, but nothing is as simple as it seems…

She said: "I am really excited about this new direction for these characters." A change in direction for the characters She adds: "I'd ended The Shipyard Girls series and I had loads of my readers messaging me asking me to take the characters further.

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But it is the heart in these books. Women from different parts of the town, different classes and circumstances coming together and forging friendships. Indeed this is the theme of the book, support and friendship. The decisions that each of the women take are wholly supported by the others. We see Hannah return to Europe to assist the British Red Cross and to search for her parents imprisoned in the concentration camps. We see Angie marry her Quentin, who when the question of differing classes comes up, is given support by the group of women in overcoming family disapproval. New to the asylum attached to the Ryhope, Dr Claire Eris had set her sights on the dashing Dr John Parker from the moment she set eyes on him. She knew of his close friendship with Helen Crawford and while she openly stated she had no problem with that, inwardly she would do everything within her power to keep the two apart. Claire could see that the two were smitten with each other, even if neither of them could, so it would do nothing for her plans if they were to spend any time together and suddenly realise their feelings were reciprocated. So when Helen would call for John, the message would be surreptitiously be given to Claire who would "pass it on to John"...only she wouldn't. Therefore, John would think Helen no longer wanted to confide in him and Helen would think John didn't care enough for her to return her calls. The next step in her plan was to snare John as her husband...and then Helen would never stand a chance. Nancy Revell’s books are always a joy to read and Christmas with the Shipyard Girls is certainly no exception. I think what really resonated with readers of The Shipyard Girls series is that people felt immersed in the girl’s world, and I really want that to be the case here with The Widow’s Choice. And as Polly grows with child, she hopes against hope for a safe delivery - and that her husband Tommy can soon return from the front line to meet their new arrival.