Will I love The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club?

I loved learning about a time in history, post WWI, when women had stepped up to keep things running at home, only to have to give up control when the menfolk returned home. This book transported me in time, plus I loved the romantic thread because I'm a sucker for romance.

Character-driven stories are my favorites, and The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club soars high with emboldened women forced to make significant changes.

Constance and her new-found friends, Poppy and her motorcycle crew, are faced with being “surplus women” since so many men were killed in the Great War. While being peppered with fascinating historic facts, I unwittingly learned about the untold prejudices, rules of class, abrupt life changes, and the camaraderie of friendships.

Simonson’s whimsical writing, from the British seaside hotel setting to the delightful cast of characters weaves this coming-of-age story in such a way that it’s hard… show more.

It’s 1919, the Great War is over, and everyone is expected to get back to their pre-war lives. No one wants to see the maimed and the scarred, and women who went to work during the war are being pushed out of jobs that are to be given to the returning men. This is a beautifully crafted examination of post-war cultural upheaval, and Helen Simonson gives us everything we could look for in a novel of the human heart. Simonson’s gift of characterization lies in her ability to show us the story behind the story in just a few deft… show more.