In Rowena Summers’ novel, Taking Heart, three sisters in the Caldwell family struggle with adversity in the form of their father’s failing business, a sick mother, and a developmentally-disabled brother. Living in Bristol, England on the brink of World War 2, the sisters long for love, prosperity, and peace for their family and friends.
Fans of historical fiction and romance will enjoy this sweet story, which remains upbeat and positive-despite heartbreak and hardship- and neatly wraps up everything in the end. I enjoyed this charming story, (Summers’ descriptions of “honey-blonde hair,” “velvety brown eyes,” and “gauche as any school boy” notwithstanding), and I appreciated the historical references to the time period.
Apparently, this is a re-release, as this book was first published in 2001, and it is the first in a series, Caldwell Saga. The story left me sufficiently curious to know what happens in the next book, Daisy’s War.

I loved the old timey feel of this story! It reminds me of watching little house on the prarie as a child. A warm story with realistic characters. Finished it fast!

English saga writing at its best.We watch young girls grow into women .A book of family romance dealing with life during WW11 and everyday.life. #netgalley#agora

What a lovely book. I really enjoyed this book. It was a great holiday read and was so nice to just sit in the sun and relax reading a great story.
I love the era that this book is set in, such a innocent time before WW2.
I will be looking out for more of Rowena’s books in the future.

Well written - Good story about a family on the verge of WWII. Some sorrow and some romance and always the threat of another war. Great sense of place and a wide variety of characters. So glad to see that the story will continue in the next book. Cant wait to read it.

Taking Heart is the first in a series of books about the Caldwell sisters during World War II. This book focuses on the eldest sister at the start of the war. I really enjoyed this book, I found the characters likeable and I found the plot easy to follow. The three sisters are very different to each other and I look forward to reading the other three books in the series.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC

When their nice cosy life is unexpectedly turned upside down with the crash of the family business, Imogen being the eldest is forced to take on the responsibility of her ailing mother who is in the early stages of senility and two younger sisters. Her father is totally blown away by the loss of his business and a huge loss of confidence in himself as a provider. Then the family is dealt another huge blow by the tragic death of their mother leaving them all rudderless. Though Frances was ineffective in dealing with the day to day lives of her family, she was very much loved and her loss affects them all badly.



Imogen comes up with the idea of taking in paid lodgers despite it being anathema to the society they live in. The youngest Teddy is sent along with Daisy to their aunt's house till they sort things out and Elsie and Imogen decide how they are going to manage not just their finances, but their personal lives and their father who has now become ineffective.

When the firm which took over their business offers their father a job, it is a life saver for him but for Isobel she feels the family are not being loyal to the Caldwell name. When her sister also joins the firm she is appalled but she is holding out but for what she doesnt know. The fact that everyone seems to have found some niche for themselves, along with boyfriends and a purpose whereas she seems aimless and jobless is enough to create tension for Imogen.

The onset of WWII is also imminent but the girls do not seem to want to acknowledge that it is going to happen. Whether reading about it in the newspapers or listening to the news is not the "done thing" for young women of the era I don't know but in this family they all pretended to be deaf and blind to what was happening in the world outside their little town, until it blew up in their face.

The family story of the Caldwells in the setting of just pre WWII was a good one. It embodied family values of the time, along with the position of women and what was expected of them. Family tension and rivalries were also seen - the way women took over the working world had still to come with the actual out break of the War. Characterization was interesting because we had all kinds of people in the book - from the flighty to the serious, from the domineering to the more submissive types.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.