Dear Mrs Bird
- Author AJ Pearce
- Narrator Anna Popplewell
- Publisher Pan Macmillan
- Run Time 9 hours and 49 minutes
- Format x-book®
- Genre Adventure fiction, Historical fiction, Historical romance, Humorous fiction, Second World War fiction.
Click to open directly in the xigxag app.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- €9.95
- €8.95
- €7.95
- €6.95
- €5.95
Listen to a sample
What to expect
Read by Anna Popplewell, known for her role in The Chronicles of Narnia.
Richard & Judy Book Club Pick
Sunday Times Bestseller
Set during London's blitz and filled with warmth, wit and heartbreak, Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce is a wartime story about the power of friendship, the kindness of strangers and the courage of ordinary people.
London, 1941. Amid the falling bombs Emmeline Lake dreams of becoming a fearless Lady War Correspondent. Unfortunately, Emmy instead finds herself employed as a typist for the terrifying Henrietta Bird, the renowned agony aunt at Woman’s Friend magazine. Mrs Bird refuses to read, let alone answer, letters containing any form of Unpleasantness, and definitely not letters from the women the war has left lovelorn, grief-stricken or conflicted.
But the thought of these desperate women waiting for an answer becomes impossible for Emmy to ignore. She decides she simply must help and secretly starts to write back – after all, what harm could that possibly do?
'The most uplifting, lovely book about courage, friendship, love' – Marian Keyes
'Utterly charming and helplessly funny' – Jenny Colgan
'A proper comfort read' – India Knight
Critics Review
If I had only known how much I was going to adore Dear Mrs Bird, I wouldn’t have gobbled it down all at once. Funny, fresh, and touching, Dear Mrs Bird is a treat of a read.
I fell in love with Dear Mrs Bird on page one and completely adored every single word . . . a wonderfully heartwarming book, which I will recommend to everyone I know
Utterly charming and helplessly funny
Witty, wise and full of charm . . . I absolutely loved it
The sweetest, most uplifting, lovely book about courage, friendship, love . . . It’ll be huge; it deserves to be
A winning wartime romp . . . as hilarious as it is moving. Emmy is truly charming. When her upper lip finally wobbles, the reader’s will, too. In the end, the novel’s spirit is madly winning, and its foregrounding of wartime women seems spiffingly modern.
This story of female friendship is just the tonic for that jaded feeling that the world is ugly and mad.
A joyfully uplifting and optimistic novel . . . a timely story of courage and good humour in adversity.
A marvellous treat. Charming and delightful.
When we need it most, Dear Mrs Bird is a wonderful, uplifting novel and, like its heroine, its breathless, giddy tone has real depth and heart.
Here’s a refreshing take on the Second World War novel. Dear Mrs Bird is charming without being twee, full of fun and heart, and will being you to tears.
Dear Mrs Bird is an adorable novel, charming, funny, and uplifting . . . Catch a cold immediately and retire to bed with it
Irresistibly charming and delightful
A joy from start to finish. Dear Mrs Bird is as funny as it is heart-warming.
An utterly charming story of friendship, heartbreak and heroism… You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll love it
I’ve never read a novel that has grabbed me by the heart quite so much as this one
Books that make you shake with laughter and sob with tears are rare. I gulped this one down but didn’t stop thinking about it for a long time
Dear Mrs Bird is an utterly enchanting debut: cheering, compelling, charming. If you loved Their Finest this is for you.
A thoroughly lovely book, and reading it is like a great big shot of serotonin in the arm. I defy anyone not to fall for its numerous charms
Dear Mrs Bird is an adorable novel, charming, funny, and uplifting; a WW2 London-Blitz tears ’n’ cheers plucky-gal romance.
A story bathed in good cheer, it celebrates the power of female friendship in difficult times and how writing a letter might heal the sorest of hearts.
Dear Mrs Bird is a triumph – authentic, funny and packed with heart.
Imagine Bridget Jones running amok in the wartime world of Mrs Miniver. AJ Pearce’s hoot of a debut, Dear Mrs Bird is a comic confection that is sweetly uplifting.
I loved the concept of a light-hearted historical novel inspired by real Forties letters sent into advice columns, which highlight how women’s lives were affected amid the ‘stiff upper lip’ attitudes of the time.
A wonderful wartime story that is funny, yet poignant and realistic. I can’t wait for the next in the series.
A delight: witty, tear-jerking and a vivid depiction of the time. I absolutely loved it.
Like Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Dear Mrs Bird manages to strike a delicate balance between funny and heart breaking. When we need it most, Dear Mrs Bird is a wonderful, uplifting novel and, like its heroine, its breathless, giddy tone has real depth and heart.
A proper comfort read
Incredibly funny yet very touching, [Dear Mrs Bird] explores friendship and romance against the bleak backdrop of the Blitz with trademark British humour and a stiff upper lip.
Charming, funny and moving, this is a total joy of a read
I loved Dear Mrs Bird, the joyous debut of AJ Pearce
(A) moving and funny debut of friendship and kindness in the Blitz.
A sweet and charming read
Emmy, her best friend, Bunty, and Mrs Bird herself are wonderful characters. Rich, warm, funny….I loved them. […]And I loved A.J. Pearce’s writing. It’s warm and humorous, and brilliantly engaging.
I just adored Dear Mrs Bird and think it should be available on prescription, it is such a tonic. It’s so clever and wise but sweet and moving too. Just the ticket
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