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Poppies for England
Poppies for England | Susan Scarlett
2 posts | 1 to read
This one week's holiday was all that most of the audience could get, they were free for one week from food queues, housework and even, for many hours a day, the care of their children. It was a week of absolute rest, but everybody in the audience knew that outside the camp lay the hard, difficult world of 1946.The Corners and the Binns are show business families on the verge of dire straits due to lack of jobs in the postwar economy. But crisis is averted when they snag a summer gig performing a variety show at a holiday camp. It's not all smooth sailing, however. The Corners' daughter Dulcie is attractive and talented, but a bit of a diva, and when she sets her sights on the show's pianist and composer, Tom Pollard, gets not a flicker of response, then discovers that his focus is on Nella Binns, a dancer with real talent but no ability to "put herself over", danger signs flash. The resulting drama, with a lush array of details about the perils of mounting a stage show, postwar life, and the lingering scars of war, is an irresistibly entertaining tale of family dynamics, ambition, and love.Poppies for England, first published in 1948, is the tenth of twelve charming, page-turning romances published under the pseudonym "Susan Scarlett" by none other than beloved children's author and novelist Noel Streatfeild. Out of print for decades, they were rediscovered by Greyladies Books in the early 2010s, and Dean Street Press and Furrowed Middlebrow are delighted now to make all twelve available to a wider audience."A writer who shows a rich experience in her writing and a charm" Nottingham Journal
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willaful
Poppies for England | Susan Scarlett
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No real standouts for March, but this was the Scarlett book most like Noel Streatfeild's children's books, so of course I enjoyed it.

Andrew65 Looks a good read. (edited) 4mo
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blurb
willaful
Poppies for England | Susan Scarlett
post image

Engrossing story about two theatrical families putting on a show in post-WWII England. There are two romance going on but it's really more about the theater experience and how everyone in the family is part of it, which is great fun to read about. Dancing Shoes, my favorite Steatfeild, is fairly obviously a reworking of this book, but it's different enough to not make this annoying to read.

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