Ok – lets start with the elephant in the room, I don’t think these have an official title as a group – but they’re three interconnected novels and they’re by Lissa Evans, and so I christen it thusly. And I’m recommending them today because when I was thinking about stuff you might like if you like Emmy Lake and the World War Two novels from the other week, these came to mind.
The three novels are Crooked Heart, Old Baggage and V for Victory and they cover an interconnected group of characters. Noel and ace appear in the first and third which are set in the Second World War and Mattie, Noel’s former guardian is the centre of Old Baggage, which is set in 1928. The themes running through all three are about finding your place in the world, what family means and breaking the rules in various shapes and forms. I think they would work in chronological order as well as publication order if you wanted to meet Mattie first, but I think in terms of character development you probably want to meet Noel first and then read about Mattie to discover why he is the way he is.
And I should say as well that they’ve also all been Books of the week – so you can also read more thoughts at length on Crooked Heart, Old Baggage and V for Victory in those posts. But basically, if you want some beautifully written historical fiction which will make you laugh and cry, this will do it for you. They’re great and I’m so glad that I found that proof copy of Crooked Heart on the shelf at work back in the day (I miss the shelf still, although it’s probably better for the state of the pile that it’s gone) and started me on the journey even if my set doesn’t match and you know how much that annoys me!
You should be able to get hold of these fairly easily even though they’re a few years old – they were published by Penguin and I’ve seen them all over the place, including in Foyles relatively recently. And of course then you can go and read Their Finest Hour and a Half, Lissa Evans’ other World War Two-set novel which was turned into the film Their Finest. And that’s your weekend sorted isn’t it?!
Happy Reading!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 
I loved these too, borrowed from the Verity Library some years ago. Thank you.
When I was writing this and looked back at my old reviews and notes I see that I eneded up buying at least one of these in paperback specifically so I could lend it to you!
Thank you, you are very kind to me. I very rarely can reciprocate as you usually have read anything I have, and in a better prettier copy!