The Beantown Girls by Jane Healey

4/5 Stars

The Beantown Girls by Jane Healey is an historical fiction novel and an absolute delight to read. While the main characters are fictional, the story explores a group of women who volunteered with the Red Cross and became known as the “Clubmobile Girls.” This group of patriotic women served our military heroes on the front lines of WWII and provided them with coffee, doughnuts, endless smiles and morale while abroad. I enjoyed learning about this organization that I had not heard of until picking up The Beantown Girls.

The story centers around the lives of three best friends from Boston - Fiona, Dottie and Viv - who decide that together they will join the “Clubmobile Girls” after Fiona’s fiance’s plane was shot down in Europe and he was declared missing. It is evident that Healey researched this amazing group of women well to develop the characters and storyline. There is a bit of humor and laughable mishaps in the girls’ training from issues with making donuts to learning how to drive. You will smile a lot and laugh out loud as well. There is romance (hello, soldiers!) and the strong bonds of forever friendship. There is also danger and loss as is part of war. Weaved throughout the novel is the difficult hardship of trying to learn what happened to Fiona’s fiance. Yes, you do find out by the end of the book, but I will not spoil it here. Never budging though is the girls’ undying support and reliance upon one another and the unbreakable bond of their deep love and friendship.

This book had me laughing, cheering, crying and more. I have heard it referred to as “fluffy” and yes, at times it was. But to be honest, it is exactly what I needed. While there were many emotions weaved throughout, I felt good and smiled at the end. This is well worth the read. It has a captivating and interesting story and learning about the “Clubmobile Girls” was fascinating.