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    The Beantown Girls
    The Beantown Girls
    The Beantown Girls
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Beantown Girls

    Written by Jane Healey

    Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller.

    A novel of love, courage, and danger unfolds as World War II’s brightest heroines—the Clubmobile girls—take on the front lines.

    1944: Fiona Denning has her entire future planned out. She’ll work in city hall, marry her fiancé when he returns from the war, and settle down in the Boston suburbs. But when her fiancé is reported missing after being shot down in Germany, Fiona’s long-held plans are shattered.

    Determined to learn her fiancé’s fate, Fiona leaves Boston to volunteer overseas as a Red Cross Clubmobile girl, recruiting her two best friends to come along. There’s the outspoken Viviana, who is more than happy to quit her secretarial job for a taste of adventure. Then there’s Dottie, a shy music teacher whose melodious talents are sure to bring heart and hope to the boys on the front lines.

    Chosen for their inner strength and outer charm, the trio isn’t prepared for the daunting challenges of war. But through it all come new friendships and romances, unforeseen dangers, and unexpected dreams. As the three friends begin to understand the real reasons they all came to the front, their courage and camaraderie will see them through some of the best and worst times of their lives.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateFeb 5, 2019
    ISBN9781721349203
    The Beantown Girls
    Author

    Jane Healey

    Jane Healey studied English Literature at Warwick University. She has been shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize 2013, the Costa Short Story Award 2014, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2016 and the Penguin Random House WriteNow mentoring programme 2017. The Animals at Lockwood Manor is her first novel. She lives in Edinburgh.

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    Reviews for The Beantown Girls

    4.5/5

    514 ratings32 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This is one of my all time favorite books! I have read/listened to it a few times. So believe me when I say.. you need to treat yourself and read this book because it is so worth the read ❤️

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      For historical fiction lovers this is a story following three best friends and clubmobile girls during WWII. To be honest I knew almost nothing about the clubmobile girls and I was really intrigued to follow them and feel like a part of their unit. I enjoyed reading it even though the plot was a bit predictable. However that did not annoy me that much as it was exactly what I needed at that time!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      EH. It was just ok. Not much substance to the story really. It's pretty cheesy. Not much really happens honestly. The narrator was excellent.
    • 5/5
      PERFECTION. That is all I have to say. Utter perfection.
    • 1/5
      The kind of book you keep reading, in the hope it will get better! So predictable!
    • 5/5
      I couldn’t put it down. Every emotion runs through you. We’ll written & so well narrated. A lovely voice to listen to. I never knew about these women & wish I had the guts that these volunteers had during war time to do great deeds.
    • 5/5
      I needed something light , but good. Something that would take me away to another time. This book was exactly what I needed. I had been feeling a little depressed so I didn’t want something to intense, just enough to grab me and keep me. Thank you so much for this book. It was the perfect medicine
    • 5/5
      I was not sure at first if this book was going to be for me but kept with it and I am so glad I did!!! The story of the war from the Red Cross Club Mobile girls side was just gorgeous!!! As this book grew on me, I could not stop listening!!
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I’ve listened to on women in WWII. It was a part of history I wasn’t aware of even though I’m an avid reader of history. It is comprehensive in the major events in the last year of the war. Jane Henley makes the story come alive with her depiction of the woman and their friendship and support of each other. I felt like one of the team.
      I’m proud that the Red Cross provided this taste of home away from home for our soldiers fighting for our Democracy.
      This should be made into a major series on Netflix or Prime Video. Hope Jane’s agent has submitted it to them. It would be as good as “Band of Brothers”.
    • 5/5
      Love WWII stories, fiction and non. Learned about the Red Cross work during this era.
    • 2/5
      The writing & the plot get 5 stars, no questions asked. It was wonderful. BUT I found the frequent use of GD unnecessary & offensive.
    • 5/5
      Thoroughly enjoyed this. Scribd recommended it so I was iffy about reading it since I’d never heard of it. I stayed up late finishing it as the 2nd half of the book moved really fast. I got emotional when they served the newly freed POWs. It was a feel good WWII book.
    • 5/5
      A Great story. Makes you feel like you were there.
    • 5/5
      What an awesome story I cried laughed and throughly enjoyed every word wonderful book
    • 5/5
      This book was an emotional roller coaster that just kept getting better as it went on.
    • 4/5
      The story and narrator were excellent. One nit picky thing... the overuse of the word "said"
      One could use a thesaurus and use: answer, announce, reply, say, claim, declare, assert, deliver ad nauseum.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed hearing of war time romances. I found it hard to believe that Red Cross girls were supping champagne.
    • 4/5
      Good story but I almost quit because of the narration. She sounded like she was literally grunting the last syllable of most words. Really annoying.
    • 5/5
      Great narration. History fascinating regarding the Red Cross in Europe during WW11
    • 3/5
      Really enjoyed it. It took me to a whole different time and place. All of the female characters were well written and different from each other. The story light with romance, but it also showed some of the real sides of war and loss. For a war book, it wasn't too heavy or sad. I enjoyed learning about the red Cross and what the women did during the war. I'd recommend this book!
    • 4/5
      I was challenged to read a historical fiction book for the Month of January and this one had been sitting on my TBR pile for over a year. A wonderful step back in the past with Dottie, Vivian, and Fiona aboard the Red Cross Club Mobile Cheyenne. During WW2, these girls leave their homes in Boston in order to find answers to missing soldiers and do something to help with the war effort.

      Along the way, they meet characters like a farmers widow with 3 sons in the war, Liz Anderson their commander and even a few famous officers.

      Their lives are forever changed during their time on the front lines but they never lose sight of their purpose. I found myself crying as they described the devastation they witnessed and I cheered when they are reunited with the servicemen they met.

      All in all, I give this book a 4/5. I would love to
    • 1/5
      All fluff and no substance. Very immature tale of women getting dropped into the frontlines and just all falling madly in love like WWII wasn’t that bad. So weird.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is my second book I’ve read by Jane Healey. I usually don’t enjoy any book that is set during WW2 but I liked The Saturday Evening Girls Club so much I decided to give this one a shot too. I’m glad I did! For me it was a completely different aspect of WW2 focusing on strong women and how the war affected and changed them.
    • 4/5
      Another Historical Fiction novel by Jane Healey which center around a group of women from Boston who belong to "real" organizations. The Beantown Girls is about three college friends from Boston who join the Red Cross Clubmobile. The Clubmobile traveled through the "European Front" during WWII serving coffee and donuts and a piece of America in the form of attractive women.This story includes friendship, romance, and war. It is heartwaming.
    • 4/5
      I'm a sucker for World War II genre fiction and this one was fairly well written with a well-plotted story. It tells the story of three girls from Boston who join the Red Cross after one of them, Fiona Denning, learns that her fiance has been shot down over Germany and is missing in action. Fiona thinks, somewhat unrealistically, that she will be sent immediately to France and from there can find her missing boy friend.However, things don't go quite like she plans. The girls' training turns out to be one disastrous mistake after another. So they are initially assigned to work at the air fields in England. There, however, they prove their mettle and finally are sent to France and then follow the troops into the midst of the Battle of the Bulge where the tale of their escape from Bastogne kept even cynical me enthralled. Like all good fiction of this sort, this one has a happy ending - just not the happy ending you anticipate.
    • 4/5
      During the last year of WWII, Fiona, Viviana, and Dottie volunteer with the Red Cross as Clubmobile girls. Fiona's fiancé has been missing in action for over a year and she is determined to find out more. Viviana is an outspoken vivacious girl while Dottie is shy and reluctant to share her musical talents. As Clubmobile girls, they travel from fort to station, delivering donuts, coffee, and supplies to boost troop morale.This was a quick read. It featured strong female characters, which I loved. I've read a lot of WWII books, and this is the first time I've heard of the Red Cross Clubmobile girls. Overall, well worth picking up!
    • 5/5
      Enjoyed the book. Did not know about the Red Cross girls. At least it was based on real events. The people in the book were interesting and different. Nice love story.
    • 4/5
      Thank you NetGalley for sharing this heartwarming title with me.Jane Healey has a hit on her hands.The Beantown trio will make you laugh, cry and sometimes get angry. Follow the girls along on their journey to find a lost fiancé, while driving the club mobile, serving coffee and donuts to those who are fighting for our freedom. War changes everyone. This was will change the girls of the Red Cross as they find themselves while helping those around them. The comradely that blooms throughout the the journey will run the emotional roller coaster, pushing you to read to the end to see what happens next.
    • 4/5
      Melrose author Jane Healey's fine touch with historical novels (Saturday Evening Girl's Club, 2017) expands in this story of Red Cross volunteers serving in both liberated and combat areas in Europe in 1944-45. Her three heroines, Fiona, Dottie, and Viv, are all college pals from Boston who bake donuts, brew coffee, jitterbug, and drive and maintain enormous trucks through bombed-out regions of England, France, and Germany. Fiona's fiancé, a pilot, has been missing since his plane was shot down, and she strives to get near him and to find out his fate and ultimately, her own. There's a larger cast of well-drawn characters - other "Donut Dollies", soldiers, romantic interests, and a particularly touching encounter with the ill-fated bandleader Glenn Miller. The reader is not spared the horror and misery of war and loss, and the plot is surprisingly suspenseful.
    • 5/5
      I read Jane Healey’s first book THE SATURDAY EVENING GIRLS CLUB and really enjoyed it – gave it a 4-star rating. But THE BEANTOWN GIRLS I absolutely LOVED – 5-star review (and more if I could). I was torn between wanting to know how things turned out for each of the girls and not wanting to leave their world. These girls were my friends for a few days – and today had to let them go.This is a compelling read that takes the reader to the European Theatre of Operations in the last days of WWII. And for those who do not like alternating times and/or perspectives, you will like this one – straight timeline (1944) and one perspective (Fiona’s). Healey tells the story of Fiona Denning whose life is running smoothly until her fiancé is reported missing after having been shot down in Germany. She can’t just accept not knowing his fate so she, along with her friends Viv and Dottie, volunteer overseas as a Red Cross Clubmobile girl. Viv is outgoing, beautiful, and a talented artist. Dottie is a very shy music teacher and astonishes everyone with her beautiful singing voice. Healey takes the reader through the training and deployment of these young women. Fascinating read!These charming girls never imagined what their deployment would really be like. They make new friends, they lose friends. There is romance, there is heartbreak. Celebration, devastation. They learn their own strengths and the value of friendship. None of them will go unchanged by their experiences. I had never heard of the Red Cross Clubmobile girls. Jane Healey did extensive research of these little known heroines of WWII. How had we never heard of them! I loved the story even though it was somewhat predictable. But while reading it, I felt the emotions the characters were feeling. I rejoiced with them and cried with them. A beautifully written page-turning read.