Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

At 17 years old, Alice who is an orphan travels to where her great-aunt lives, on reaching the place, she finds out that she’s no longer alive.

She then starts to live with two sisters of another aunt. Slowly she begins to see how the war is affecting everyone as she’s living by an airfield, where Americans from the USAAF live.

Alice becomes a librarian, by using the little library to do her bit in the war effort.

The story depicted what it was like during WWII, what the country went through with pilots doing their duty, but not coming home and lost loved ones.

I highly recommend this book.

Historical drama set during World War Two. An orphan finds a new home and a new purpose. Heartwarming and enjoyable.

It’s not until a third of the way through this novel, that we learn of the Secret Library. The foregoing simply sets the scene but is slow moving and at times a bit tedious. I felt the ‘Dear Diary’ sections were unnecessary and detracted from this rather sweet romance between an America mechanic based in Norfolk, and the orphaned Alice who had rebuilt her life with the help of strangers. Alice’s recruitment and work for the SOE proved invaluable towards bringing the war to an end and added a nice bit of excitement. Highly readable and entertaining.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers HarperCollins One More Chapter, for this ARC

May, 1943: Alice Carmichael is homeless at the age of seventeen when the home belonging to her grandmother was hit by a bomb. She finds a new purpose in her life when she finds new guardians, two sisters take her in and treat her like family. She turns her grief into helping the war effort. When one of the sisters has an accident while doing her job as a postie. Alice takes over. As she did the job so well, she decides to join the SOE, passing messages through books at the local library.

This is an emotional read. The characters are well portrayed. It's so well-written and covers the realities of living during WWII. Of course, with most good stories, Alice finds love with an American called Blake. The pace is slow to start with, but it soon picks up. The story honours the people who lost their lives fighting for their country.

Published 24th November 2024

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUK #OneMoreChapter and the author #GlynisPeters for my ARC of #TheSecretOrphansLibrary in exchange for an honest review.

The Orphans secret Library is another great book from Glynis Peters.
Alice Carmicheal is an orphan. At 5 she was left at an orphanage and then went to live with her grandmother but sadly she died in the Blitz. Her only living relative lives in a small village in Norfolk. But when she gets there, she finds out that she also has died. With nowhere else to go she is taken in by two sisters who becomes her family. She gets a job as a post woman, who cycles every day. As one of the sisters who is a postie has an accident and can’t do the job, so Alice takes over. She does so well the decides to do her bit for the war by joining the SOE and passing messages though the books at the local library.
When the Americans arrive at the village Alice falls in love with one of them Blake. With that and doing her bit for the war keeps her busy.
This is an emotional tale of everyday life during the war and of the lads going of to war and some that never come home. This is a great love story too with someone who wasn’t born with a with a hold lot of love but eventually found it. This is a great read. 4 stars from me.

3.5 stars
A young girl who has lost literally everything in the Blitz is able to channel her grief into helping the war effort.
This novel was a love-letter to the power and healing that books can contain, as well as interesting WW2 historical fiction.
*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*

Another great book from Glynis Peter’s. Alice is an Orphan who, after her Grandmother dies, goes to find an Aunt. Unfortunately the Aunt has died but two sisters take her in and befriend her. The war is raging and Alice finds herself as a teenager helping in ways she couldn’t have imagined. Thanks to Glynis and her publisher. Thanks also to NetGalley

UK, May 1943: Alice Carmichael becomes homeless at seventeen when the house of her grandmother is bombed, losing her protector and safe space. As a child, she grew up surrounded by books and her natural instinct leads her to taking a few books she could carry with her.

As she finds new shelter, she finds new guardians, friendship and discovers a new purpose in life. She becomes a postwoman at Billingford who sets up a mobile library, which later extends to a village library and her secret war work.

Alice’s new location is close to an airbase housing American Airforce. She meets an American airman and tries to balance love with her secret mission, which leads to some tensions.

Alice is almost eighteen when she falls in love and receives her first advice about men. Throughout the story, she writes in her diary revealing her thoughts which also involve her feelings toward a man.

As devastating war is, this story demonstrates how one can still find purpose and love; and the resonating fact of the written word that has the power of transporting one to a different place bringing healing, solace, and hope. The story reveals the lost lives of the men who worked at the Norfolk airbase and pays honors to those young men who some of them left the airbase for a mission and never returned.

The story is written with simple prose and carrying a voice of a young person which may resonate with some readers. It has a slow start and there are parts that move faster than the others. Nevertheless, the story carries an engaging thread.

Alice Carmichael is orphaned in WWII. She finds a home with a good woman in Norfolk, near an American air base, where she keeps a library service going. While this has interesting characters, I had a hard time staying in the story.

Really enjoyed this book. Full of joy, heartbreak and bravery! Thank you for an early read Net galley

Glynis Peters brings another aspect of WWII to life in her new book, The Orphan’s Secret Library. Alice, a 17 year-old orphan, makes her way to where a great-aunt lives. Discovering her aunt has passed away, she is taken in by two sisters who become her family. She is exposed to the realities of war living by an airfield built to house Americans from the USAAF in Britain. Alice becomes a librarian, utilizing her little library as a tool to assist her country in the war effort. This is a moving depiction of what life was like during WWII, describing the tragedy of pilots leaving in the morning but not returning in the evening. I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy history as well as a moving love story.

I am addicted to Glynis Peters booked. In The Orphan's Secret Library, the author's words transported me back to a region where my family lived during WW2. I walked along side characters as the sipped tea in Ipswich. I rode on buses trying to get from one small village to another. I pedaled the roads dodging the American trucks that were to large for the village roads. I finally got a realistic picture of some of the air bases that populated the region and how they affected the British subjects that lived near them.

My mother has shared stories of going to the library for her neighbors during the war. I thought I had at least an understanding of what this story might have been about. Boy, was I wrong!!!! Alice arrives in Billingford carrying the few books she was able to save from her grandmother's home after a bombing and not much else. She lucks out when Hilda, her late great-aunt's neighbor, sends her to her sister. Hettlie opens her home to Alice.

Alice finds herself taking over for Hilda as postie when she is injured. Alice soon finds herself pedaling the country roads not only delivering the post but books that the neighbors begin to share with one another at her suggestion. Not yet eighteen; Alice is leaving her mark.

Alice stumbles into a job working for the SOE thanks to her dedication delivering the post. She is soon running a little library that is so much more. What a thrilling life she has. I have never been so happy for a character as I am for Alice. If anyone deserves happiness and family, it is Alice.

Alice finds herself in a deep friendship with Blake, an American working on the planes. Trying to keep things from him creates a lot of drama. I really enjoyed reading about the struggles to keep secrets. Small villages have nosy people and they seemed to always want to know what was going on.

The Orphan's Secret Library illustrates how the little things can be very important. It was a reminder that even in war, people can find love and happiness. The story gave me great direction into researching the region during the war. I want to walk High Street again, now with a different percpective. I want to ride the bus to Mildenhall with new eyes, not searching for memories of my dad but memories of all those dedicated to destroying the Nazis.

Just loved this book and its characters, Alice was such a beautiful brave character and her love of books showed by carrying so many of them in a battered suitcase. After finding her grandmother and then losing her Alice takes to the road to walk to Norfolk to find her aunt, she finds no aunt but is taken in by two lovely sisters. This is where Alice’s story really begins, you need to read it to find out much more,
My thanks as always to NetGalley and to Publisher HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter | One More Chapter for the lovely enjoyable early read.

The love of books turns to espionage. Alice has lost nearly everything she owns through bombing. She moves to Billington, becomes the local postie and drops off library books for the frailer residents. Through this, she discovers a secret and becomes a librarian with a special mission. A lovely read about a compassionate and brave young woman.

This lovely story is based around a lovely character called Alice .it's a beautiful historical fiction story and all the characters drew me in to every page .
The beauty of how the love of books can help comes through every page. It was a lovely read .

What an inspirational book, apart from the enjoyment of reading it, I was reminded of other books/authors and even music!
Alice Carmichael has suffered so much loss for one so young, yet she manages to fight back, finding the courage to go on. It is this courage and her love of books that finds her an unlikely job offer.
Alice is helped along her journey by the kindness of others after she finds herself in Thorpe Abotts after a long walk only to discover it’s a wasted journey, or is it.

I loved this book, it made me smile, cry, happy, check out facts for myself, learn snippets about authors who used aliases for other books. I thought a clever idea to incorporate so many books/authors within the story
The only drawback was when it ended. Hopefully it won’t be too long till the author writes more.

This had that historical fiction element that I was looking for and enjoyed the concept of this. I thought everything worked with the characters and the time-period, it was everything that I wanted and enjoyed the overall feel of this. Glynis Peters was able to create a great atmosphere and I enjoyed the way the main character was written.

It took me a little while to get into this story but once I did I became so connected to the characters I couldn’t put it down.
The story centres around Alice who is placed in an orphanage when she was a young child. A grandmother was tracked down and Alice lived with her and was very happy. WWII hit and sadly Alice lost her grandmother in a bombing at 17 and she left the only home she had known in search of a great Aunt her grandmother had told her about.
Alice arrives in a lovely English village in Norfolk to find her Great Aunt has also died but she is taken in by a loving woman and Alice begins a new life. The village becomes family and Alice soon grows into a confident young woman. She finds herself involved in the war effort as a Special Operations member passing on vital secret information to ‘runners’ through her work as the village Librarian. Books are Alice’s solace so it is not a surprise to find her working with books and escaping into the storyline of what she is reading. At such a young age Alice endures more than most but she is a brave, strong, loyal trustworthy person.
This is a lovely story despite the sadness of losing those close to you. Alice and her adopted Aunts display a kindness and that there is also hope for the future.

Gorgeous book about the power of books and how it can change your life in the most unexpected ways. Beautiful historical novel. I loved every minute

I did love this book and thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. Alice is a great character and one I warmed to immediately. The atmosphere of the book is authentic and the characters feel very real and genuine. A great story