For all these mother's in this book I say " Bless em all" with the war on going what will the future bring?

Battersea Tavern is run by Winnie & Brian, but it is Winnie doing most of the running around. She was a wonderful character, someone who was there for everyone no matter what and listened to everyone. They was also her son David who could be exasperating but also very endearing. But he does cause his mum a lot of grief and definitely should have had more responsibility.I have a little confession to make- yes yet another one. Although I have several of Kitty’s books on my ever increasing ‘to be read’ mountain, I haven’t actually read one before……until now that is. When I was invited to take part in the blog tour for ‘A Mother’s Secret’, I thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to get to know Kitty’s work. Having enjoyed reading ‘A Mother’s Secret’ as much as I did, I am now rather cross at myself for leaving it this long to realise just how flipping fantastic Kitty Neale is. I absolutely adored reading ‘A Mother’s Secret’ but more about that in a bit. I also can't speak enough of Winnie, she is definitely one of my favourite characters, terrified of what the break out of War means for her family and pub, trying to look after her son. To do best even when it was hard. And then there are the other ladies of the book - Rachel, Jane and Hilda - whom you can just pull up a stool and have a chat with. He's inherited his father's lazy streak and can't seem to hold down a job, but when war is declared Winnie is determined to keep her son safe. She's still haunted by the choice she made years ago as a desperate young woman, and she won't make the same mistake of letting her family be taken from her... Most modern authors would have used such affirmation as a reason to immediately make their mark in publishing. However, even though her writing talents were so clear to everyone who knew her, it would be years before Kitty Neale sat down to write fiction.

Then she hears two pieces of terrifying news – Kevin Dolby is up for parole and that her dear friend Bessie is gravely ill. Jennifer Lavender never felt like she belonged. She was always working so hard to earn her parent’s love and attention but nothing she did felt like it was ever enough. This is a story of lots of mother's secrets throughout the whole fantastic book. My emotions made me laugh cry and cheer, all the way through. It's the third of September 1939 in Battersea London, Winnie Berry her husband Brian and son David had the wireless on and it's not good news, they are at war with Germany and Winnie has a main worry of her beloved son been called up.Neither Elsie nor Bert nor their children wanted to move to Candle Lane. The street in Battersea is modest but they all miss their home in Wimbledon, especially the kids, Ann and Arthur. This is my first ever Kitty Neale book, set just before world war two we meet Winnie, she runs the Battersea Tavern. Her aggressive and known to be violent husband stays behind the scenes letting Winnie do all the hard graft. She dotes on her only son, David, an attractive (and he knows it) spoilt man child who thinks nothing of using his looks and mothers good nature to skate by in life. Rachel is her dab hand barmaid who works hard, is respectable and has her own family nightmare, her sister Hilda, sober she is the sweetest and kindest, drunk she opens her mouth and embarrasses and hurts poor Rachel with her bile. We also meet sweet Jan as she starts up an innocent relationship with one of the regulars in the Tavern. As the story develops we get to meet the characters and more of their lives, belt up and prefer for an emotive ride. Bessie has taken on Nora Dobbs, a young woman and she asks Pearl to take over her care when dies. Pearl, thinking that Bessie will recover from her illness and live for many more years, agrees, but less than a week later, Bessie passes away. But then she learned that she was adopted and she finally understood the true nature of her plight. Jenny would have loved nothing better than to find her real family and to finally understand where she came from. When their marriage is upended, Jennifer must go on a journey with a young woman she just met to discover a truth that might be too much for either of them to bear.