Review: Canary Girls

Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

When you see in the book's description: "Rosie the Riveter meets A League of Their Own," it is no lie.

I give this book 5 stars for its historical accuracy, 5 stars for the compelling storyline, and, although interesting, only 3.5 stars for all of the football/soccer (I'm not a huge fan of soccer). I found it interesting to read the Author's notes on women's Soccer in Britain through the years and how sexist it all was compared to how it is now.

 The work in these munitions plants is hair-raising, and I don't think I could do it even for the good of my country. Thank goodness we've invented machines to do jobs such as these. The horror these strong women face by being canary girls is amazing. It's bad enough to worry about being blown to bits, but add in the fact that none of the women complained about their yellowing skin, bleached and yellowing hair, or even the fact that  the women were dying from working with TNT. It was not like it would be today.

I love history mixed with my fiction, and this book was perfect for me. I love learning about new things while being entertained by a good story. The stories of April, Helen, Lucy, and Marjorie were heartwarming. There were the expected tragedies...aren't there always s tragedies during wartime? But there was happiness also. 

Perfect!

*ARC was supplied by the publisher William Morrow & Company, the author, and NetGalley.

View all my reviews

SYNOPSIS: ''Rosie the Riveter meets A League of Their Own in New York Times bestselling novelist Jennifer Chiaverini’s lively and illuminating novel about the “munitionettes” who built bombs in Britain’s arsenals during World War I, risking their lives for the war effort and discovering camaraderie and courage on the soccer pitch.

Early in the Great War, men left Britain’s factories in droves to enlist. Struggling to keep up production, arsenals hired women to build the weapons the military urgently needed. “Be the Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun,” the recruitment posters beckoned.

Thousands of women—cooks, maids, shopgirls, and housewives—answered their nation’s call. These “munitionettes” worked grueling shifts often seven days a week, handling TNT and other explosives with little protective gear.

Among them is nineteen-year-old former housemaid April Tipton. Impressed by her friend Marjorie’s descriptions of higher wages, plentiful meals, and comfortable lodgings, she takes a job at Thornshire Arsenal near London, filling shells in the Danger Building—difficult, dangerous, and absolutely essential work.

Joining them is Lucy Dempsey, wife of Daniel Dempsey, Olympic gold medalist and star forward of Tottenham Hotspur. With Daniel away serving in the Footballers’ Battalion, Lucy resolves to do her bit to hasten the end of the war. When her coworkers learn she is a footballer’s wife, they invite her to join the arsenal ladies’ football club, the Thornshire Canaries.

The Canaries soon acquire an unexpected fan in the boss’s wife, Helen Purcell, who is deeply troubled by reports that Danger Building workers suffer from serious, unexplained illnesses. One common symptom, the lurid yellow hue of their skin, earns them the nickname “canary girls.” Suspecting a connection between the canary girls’ maladies and the chemicals they handle, Helen joins the arsenal administration as their staunchest, though often unappreciated, advocate.

The football pitch is the one place where class distinctions and fears for their men fall away. As the war grinds on and tragedy takes its toll, the Canary Girls persist despite the dangers, proud to serve, determined to outlive the war and rejoice in victory and peace."