Christmas is for Children by Rosie Clarke

I’m so delighted to be part of the blog tour for Rosie Clarke’s lovely new book. Thanks to Aria Fiction for the copy of the book and invitation to be part of the blog tour.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

December 1930.

Christmas should be for the children, but with the Depression biting deeper, money and food in short supply and factories, ship yards and businesses closing down, the outlook is pretty bleak. It looks like many East End kids will wake up on Christmas morning to nothing. Robbie Graham is out of luck and work. Can he earn enough to put food on his table for his motherless children, Ben and Ruthie? Never mind something for their Christmas stockings?

Meanwhile single mother and local shop owner, Flo Hawkins cannot bear the thought of some children having nothing for Christmas. Alongside her daughter, Honour, they decide to make their own gifts and the community unites to throw a Christmas party at the Salvation Army for those less fortunate. But will it be Flo who gets the best gift ever?

MY REVIEW:

I love Rosie Clarke’s books, and was so delighted to read this new one.

As always, it captivated me right from the first page. The book is set in the East End of London at the time of the depression in the thirties. It’s a tough time for the characters.

Robbie is a widower, struggling to bring up his two children. There’s very little work around, and there are days when they are genuinely starving. His son Ben, who’s only ten, is very enterprising and manages to get little jobs from the neighbours, which might be enough to buy a bag of chips. He’s a really sweet child, who just wants to help his family.

Flo is another lovely character, she’s gentle and kind, and even though she runs a shop and looks after her father and daughter, she still finds time to help out elderly neighbours and keep an eye on Robbie’s children. She’s a character I really wanted the best for, I really wanted things to work out for her.

It really strikes you that some of the people in this area, in a time before benefits and the NHS, had so little. But what little they had, they shared. There’s such a great sense of community and caring.

This is a lovely, heart-warming and festive novel. It reminds us of what is important about Christmas. Completely captivating, highly recommended.

MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rosie is happily married and lives in a quiet village in East Anglia. Writing books is a passion for Rosie, she also likes to read, watch good films and enjoys holidays in the sunshine. She loves shoes and adores animals, especially squirrels and dogs.

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