This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Meg and Clarissa have found happiness and Robin Hill House is a cheerful household. Unfortunately this prosperous time can't last, because the Second World War breaks out. Meg's boyfriend has to fight and Clarissa's husband is busier than ever helping the government by producing what they need in his factory in London. The women constantly worry about their loved ones, but there's also much work to be done. Evacuees are joining them at Robin Hill House and the place is busier than ever.

Meg wants to be useful during the war. Robin Hill House is her home, but working hard has always been her forte, so she makes sure she does whatever she can to contribute. Clarissa loves having a full house, taking care of children makes her thrive. However, there's so much destruction and the people she and Meg care about are under constant threat. Will they all survive the war and can Meg once more conquer the hardship that has come back from her past to haunt her?

A Place to Call Home is another terrific story about Meg and Clarissa. It was amazing to read about these two incredibly special women again. Meg has grown into a smart, talented and capable woman. She is grateful for the good things in her life and that made me like her even more. Clarissa has a lot of love to give and every evacuee in her home is lucky to be able to receive it. I loved how she cares about people and how sweet she is to them. Robin Hill House is a wonderful welcoming place because of the people who run it and I enjoyed reading about it very much.

Tania Crosse writes about grief, heartbreak, love and hope in a captivating way. I liked how she doesn't stay away from the difficult topics and because of the lows in the lives of her main characters the highs are even more impressive. I admire that approach a lot. A Place to Call Home is a true gem, it's a delightful story with many surprising twists and turns. It has the most heartwarming charming ending that completes the story in a terrific way. A Place to Call Home is an extraordinary endearing novel, a story that will stay with me for a long time.

A Place to Call Home by Tania Crosse is a sequel to Nobody’s Girl. Clarissa “Clarrie” Stratfield-Whyte is married to Wigmore and runs Robin Hill House. It is the summer of 1939 in Kent and war with Germany is inevitable. Clarrie has decided that they will take in evacuees from London and it will help fill the hole in their life since she is unable to have children. Meg Chandler (the family took her in after her family died) insists on working and is assigned the duties of a parlor maid. However, she prefers animals and farming side of the estate. Meg has fallen in love with Ralph Hillier, the head gardener, but war is going to separate the two lovebirds. The evacuees arrive, war is officially declared and Nathaniel Green escapes. Many changes are coming to the estate and everyone will need to band together to survive.

A Place to Call Home can be a standalone book. What occurred in Nobody’s Girl is completely rehashed in A Place to Call Home. The pace is slow in the first half of the book, but it does pick up slightly during the second half. I found the story to be well-written, but a little too long (and predictable). I did not feel the author had to completely retell Nobody’s Girl. I found the story to be realistic in capturing the events of the country (rationing, war, growing vegetables, evacuees, the worry, men joining the war). I found the characters to be well-developed, and I enjoyed the beautiful setting of Kent. The story has love, heartache, hope, grief, worry, and so much more. I appreciated that the author wrapped up all the storylines and provided a good ending. I am giving A Place to Call Home 4 out of 5 stars.

Set in WW2 in a small village we have a well knit community and family. The usual heartache of war will come upon them all. Lovers will be separated, families split, some may never return and then there are the London evacuees. Some of them never seen a cow before, most unused to country life, some willing to fit in and chip in, others not.

So descriptive of how the Great War affected ordinary English people. In their daily lives, how they had to adapt, how they changed even the way they cooked to handle rationing, the stiff upper lip prevalent throughout and the feeling of comradeship, love and support extended to all by all during the Blitz and aerial bombing was very descriptive, took you to the place and made you feel as you were one of the family.

The entire story kept one on the go from the beginning to the end and was a lovely read.

Goodreads and Amazon review posted 4/11/2017. Review on my blog posted on 30/11/2017. Also linked to FB

My review as posted on Goodreads:

It is many years since I read the Tania Crosse series of historical novels set in Devon.

Only after starting to read this did I discover that it a sequel to the book 'Nobody's Girl'. I wonder if this is why I kept feeing that I had missed something?

I still liked the book a lot, especially the way in which the characters were developed.

If you can I would recommend reading the two books in order. I'm sure some of the back-story about certain characters would have more meaning.

On balance, I will remember this book for re-introducing me to the books of Tania Crosse. I will look out for future novels.

I give thanks to Netgalley and Aria for a copy of this book in return for this review.

Lovely historical fiction set in Kent, UK during WWII. This is part two of a family saga but you really don't need to have read the first book to fall in quickly with Meg and Clarrie as they cope with change, trauma, hardship and loss during the war years. Don't worry though- there's a lot of love here too, especially between these two women. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is an old fashioned tale with good story telling and a positive outlook. Try it if you are looking for a good read.

lthough I have not read the previous book, Nobody's Child by this author, I definitely will be looking for it. The friendship between Meg and Clarissa is at the heart of this book set at the beginning of World War II. As evacuees join the family at Robin Hill House, the lives of all who live there are affected by the oncoming time of trouble. Well written and readable.

A Place Called Home is a World War Two-based family saga, set mainly in Kent and follows characters which readers first met in Nobody’s Girl. The book spans the full duration of the war years, and shows how Meg Chandler coped and lived through the terrors.

Meg currently lives on the estate of industrialist Wigmore (known as Wig) Stratfield-Whyte, where she runs the farm. Having lost both her parents in an accident, Meg is offered a place in the home of Wig and Clarissa until her twenty-first birthday. She would dearly like a farm of her own, but with the looming war, her dreams must be put on hold.

Men from the estate are called up to serve in the war, but there’s just time for Meg to marry gardener sweetheart Ralph before he flies off with the RAF. Clarrisa and Wig have also opened their home to evacuees from London. Having previously lost a child, Clarissa is keen to step into a parental role for the London children.

What I liked about the book: I loved the setting with the large house, grounds and country living. Although I hadn’t read book #1 of the series, I often enjoy books about the homefront during war years.

What I didn’t like so much: The book has an epic list of characters, far too many for me to ever feel I got to know any of them very well. I was also in danger of being overwhelmed by the quantity of wartime nostalgia within the pages. I felt just a sprinkling of nostalgia would have worked better. Large chunks of dialogue are taken up with info dumping of wartime details, which should have been avoided for the sake of character realism.

I thought there was lots of potential to make the book edgy with the dangers and fears of the war, the suffering and the sinister threat to Meg, which overhang from book #1. But, for me, the book was watered down by nostalgia and lost the chance to make a voice for itself. It certainly covers the highs and lows of the war years, but I wasn’t convinced that it brought anything new to the genre.

Although I had not read the previous book in the series (I was not even aware there was one) I thoroughly enjoyed this WW2 fiction. The characters were likeable and the story believable. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Tania Crosse's A Place to Call Home is a book I've been so looking forward to reading as it is the sequel to Nobody's Girl which I completely adored. This one begins where the other one ended and it took no effort at all to get back into the story. As with the first, this novel is an absolute joy to read.
We follow the residents of Robin Hill House through the declaration of WWII and the trying years which follow. The tale does touch on all the horrors of war but mainly concentrates on how life in the country fares during the dark days and weeks. Relationships grow and move on and, for me, nothing was missed. With great characters and a well-planned story, this is a very satisfying read and both novels have resulted in Tania Crosse being added to my 'must read' list. No hesitation in recommending this wonderful saga.
I received an arc via NetGalley in exchange for my honest, original and unbiased review.

Excellent book - Great characters and plot. I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers, Aria, for this review copy, given in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Melanie from Aria for arranging the blog tour and allowing me to be part of it.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. It wasn’t until I started reading it that I realised it was a sequel to another book – Nobody’s Girl. In all honestly, if you want to understand the story fully you do need to have read Nobody’s Girl first. The story from this book was referred to quite a lot, and I did find it difficult to understand at the beginning as I didn’t know what some of the storyline referred to! Saying that, as I really enjoyed this one, I will definitely be going back to read the first book!!

Meg Chandler is working for the Stratfield-Whyte family at their home in Kent. Although she is their parlour maid and farmer, she also been taken under the wing of Clarrie Stratfield-Whyte as the daughter that she hasn’t got. It begins just before the outbreak of World War II, just at the country was finally beginning to recover from The Great War. Nobody believed that there could be another war, but Hitler was advancing through Europe at an alarming pace. Clarrie throws open the doors to Robin Hill Hall to a handful of evacuees from London – both children on their own and families whose children are too young to be sent away on their own. Can they cope with what the war has to throw at them?

I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did. As I have already said, as I haven’t read the first book, I found the storyline initially confusing. But, once you got the idea of what had happened in the first book, I settled into the story! This isn’t just a story of love, friendship and family, but also of the horrors of war. The story spanned the whole of the war, from just before the outbreak in 1939 to VE day in 1945. There are so many heart-breaking parts to the story that it was difficult to know when to put the tissues away! The story of the evacuee children was so sad. I just couldn’t ever imagine putting my child on a train, not knowing where they were going and who was going to be looking after them. Knowing that it would be the right thing to do, I still don’t think I would be able to do it. I also found it strange to find that these children were only evacuated from London to Kent – obviously they had no idea at that time that being in Kent was just as dangerous as London, with the German planes flying overhead from across the Channel.

I also found Meg’s story very sad, and again realised how difficult it was not just for the men sent to war, but to the wives left behind. Meg was newly married to Ralph, who was signed up to the RAF, and she had no choice but to let him go. Obviously, I know this is what happened, but the author has written this so well that you feel Meg’s emotion, almost first hand.

An emotional, well-written and well researched saga. Sensitive enough to capture the emotion, but also gritty enough to show the true rigours of war for the families left behind. I’m off the read the first book now!

Five Stars!