Dear Mrs Bird

By: AJ Pearce

Narrated by: Anna Popplewell

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

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

©2018 AJ Pearce (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio

Critic reviews

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)

A marvellous treat. Charming and delightful. (Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina)

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)

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)

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 a triumph – authentic, funny and packed with heart. (Miranda Dickinson, Sunday Times Bestselling Author)

A wonderful wartime story that is funny, yet poignant and realistic. I can't wait for the next in the series. (Kate Fforde)

Authentic British accent by narrator.

The Story gave a me a good idea how people lived during the IIWW in London.

Enjoyable

An enjoyable listen. I was a little disappointed with the ending.
Would have enjoyed a sequel to this story

A view to WW2 from a different angle.

Enjoyed the book, nice narrator. Interesting view in to world war two from the people left at home to cope with uncertain times.

Wonderful read

I absolutely loved the story and the Ann Popplewell read it beautifully.
Very good I couldn't stop listening.

A wonderful story.

we hear so much about the spirit of the blotz, as though those people were stoic. i think this novel portrays a more realistic view, they were tired and scared and did stuff anyway. what a lovely novel, and a wonderful picture of the intensity of female friendship.