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Dear Mrs Bird

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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.
Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
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
Jill Mansell, author of An Almost Perfect Summer
Utterly charming and helplessly funny
Jenny Colgan, author of Little Beach Street Bakery
Witty, wise and full of charm . . . I absolutely loved it
Rachel Lucas, author of The Winter Cottage
The sweetest, most uplifting, lovely book about courage, friendship, love . . . It'll be huge; it deserves to be
Marian Keyes, author of The Break
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.
The Guardian
This story of female friendship is just the tonic for that jaded feeling that the world is ugly and mad.
The Times
A joyfully uplifting and optimistic novel . . . a timely story of courage and good humour in adversity.
The Observer
A marvellous treat. Charming and delightful.
Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina
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.
Red
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.
Stylist
Dear Mrs Bird is an adorable novel, charming, funny, and uplifting . . . Catch a cold immediately and retire to bed with it
Louisa Young, author of My Dear I Wanted To Tell You
Irresistibly charming and delightful
Kate Eberlen, author of Miss You
A joy from start to finish. Dear Mrs Bird is as funny as it is heart-warming.
John Boyne, author The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
An utterly charming story of friendship, heartbreak and heroism... You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll love it
Lucy Diamond
I've never read a novel that has grabbed me by the heart quite so much as this one
Shelley Harris
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
Katie Fforde
Dear Mrs Bird is an utterly enchanting debut: cheering, compelling, charming. If you loved Their Finest this is for you.
Amanda Craig, author of The Lie of The Land
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
Kate Riordan
Dear Mrs Bird is an adorable novel, charming, funny, and uplifting; a WW2 London-Blitz tears ’n’ cheers plucky-gal romance.
Louisa Young, author of My Dear I Wanted to Tell You
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.
Mary Paulson-Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker
Dear Mrs Bird is a triumph – authentic, funny and packed with heart.
Miranda Dickinson, Sunday Times Bestselling Author
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.
Sunday Times
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.
Stylist
A wonderful wartime story that is funny, yet poignant and realistic. I can't wait for the next in the series.
Daily Mail
A delight: witty, tear-jerking and a vivid depiction of the time. I absolutely loved it.
Woman & Home magazine ‘Pick of the Month’
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.
Red Magazine
A proper comfort read
India Knight, author of Darling
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.
Daily Express
Charming, funny and moving, this is a total joy of a read
Fabulous Magazine
I loved Dear Mrs Bird, the joyous debut of AJ Pearce
Good Housekeeping
(A) moving and funny debut of friendship and kindness in the Blitz.
Elle
A sweet and charming read
Prima
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.
The People’s Friend
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
Harriet Evans, author of The Wildflowers

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