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The Outcast Girls
Summary
An utterly heartbreaking tale of two young girls, worlds apart, who are thrown together when they have lost everything. Fans of Wives of War, Before We Were Yours, and Diney Costeloe will absolutely love this poignant and moving World War Two novel.
England, 1937: After a devastating childhood at Blakely Hall Orphanage, 15-year-old Sandra is released. She finds work as a housemaid, finally able to put her past behind her. But the start of World War Two throws the country into turmoil, and her brother, Alf, is sent away to fight, leaving her completely alone.
Germany, 1939: Eleven-year-old Frieda is about to board a ship bound for England with her brother, Kurt. Life at home is perilous, with synagogues set alight and innocent lives lost to the Nazis. They have no choice but to flee, with only their identity cards and a small suitcase. But at the last moment, as Frieda stands on the deck crammed with frightened children, she spots her brother jumping off, back to land.
England, 1943: Joining the Land Army, Sandra is sent to a farm in the remote countryside where she meets evacuee Frieda. The girls are grappling with their own tragedies - Sandra fretting over whether Alf, flying a bomber in the heavens, will see tomorrow, and Frieda distraught that Kurt abandoned her, uncertain whether he is alive.
Sandra and Frieda form a friendship that sees them through the darkest of days, but in times of war, heartbreak is always just around the corner. Will the girls ever be reunited with their loved ones? And will the relationships they have fostered amidst the terror of war survive?
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DubaiReader
- 13-03-20
Land Girls
I really enjoyed this book, it was just the right balance between happy and sad, loving and losing. And reading it in the middle of the Coronavirus scare, it kind of put all our current concerns into perspective. These people were worrying for their families and young men for years on end, I have no idea how they coped.
The two main characters are young women who volunteer to help farm the land while the men are off at war. They were known as the Land Girls. They did all the work previously done by the men and they worked long hours.
Frieda was a German Jew, sent out of her country with hundreds of other children, to save them from being sent to the concentration camps. She struck lucky with Doris, a very caring step-mother, but her worries for her family haunt her. She meets Sandra, raised in an orphanage after the death of her mother, she has only her brother Alf for family and he has volunteered with a bomber squadron.
The two girls recognise the similarities in their situations and strike a firm bond.
Through hard work, love affairs, bomb attacks and food shortages, the girls get through the war and help each other to survive. I was very surprised to find that one of them had eating issues, I had thought that a modern problem.
The narration of my audiobook was excellently done by Rosie Jones, who did a fabulous job with the accents of the two girls.
Shirley Dickson was a new author to me and one I shall look out for in the future.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sam Smith
- 10-03-20
Beautiful story of friendship, love and loss
The main part of this heart-warming story is set in rural England and follows the lives of Sandra and Frieda and the loves and losses that they each face during WWII.
Frieda is a young Jewish German girl who is sent as a refugee to England and whose brother jumps ship and leaves her alone with no knowledge of what is happening to her family left in war torn Europe.
Sandra, a Northern lass; orphan and former house maid/servant, whose brother is away fighting in the war, joins the Land Girls to do her bit for the war effort.
The story tells of their lives and how their friendship forms over the years with them both dealing with the trauma of their past as well as their current situation. We journey with these characters through love, loss and heartbreak and how they both bond through similarities of their situations and experiences.
The author has woven a gentle, heart-warming story with genuine slightly broken characters who as a reader/listener, I couldn't stop thinking about. I listened to the narrated version of this by Rosie Jones, who brought a lovely local accent to the story.
This is the first novel by Shirley Dickson that I have read but it certainly won't be the last! In fact I am struggling to get into another novel as this beautiful, heart wrenching story has left me with a book hangover and I'm not ready to move on yet!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Allie Samuel
- 08-03-20
WWII
I loved listening to every word of this beautiful novel but be warned - listen in the car and prob shouldn’t when it’s such a weepie! 5 stars from me!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Maggie Kiely
- 28-02-20
Gripping
This is my first book by this author I found it really gripping from the start and I loved the characters of Sandra Olive and Freda It was interesting to see how their war progressed and Freda's eating disorder and Sandra's illiteracy was an interesting twist. I was sad when it ended and would recommend.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Steven
- 24-02-20
Lovely world War 2saga
this was a lovely story about 2 young girls, Sandra and Frieda thrown together in England during the second world War. I really engaged with both of the characters, particularly Sandra after the terrible situation she finds herself in at the start of the book.
Rosie Jones' narration is utterly spell binding, she pulls off a range of accents with ease and really made me feel part of the story.
this isn't a book I'd usually read but it made a lovely change and i'll look out for more books written by this author.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Skye's Mum
- 14-02-20
A heartwarming story brought alive by the narrator
I really enjoyed this story, it was simple and heartfelt. Living in the North East I was impressed with the narrator. I was pleased that I listened to it instead of reading it.
Brilliant and definitely recommend it if you're interested in WW2 genre and how we were affected in the UK.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Melanie Preston Lewis
- 12-02-20
Glorious
As the daughter of a Kindertransport child, I was very much looking forward to listening to this book. Frieda's lodgings with Auntie Doris were so lovely. Credit to Ms Dickson for not falling into the cliche of Kindertransport children all being treated like slaves, as many were very satisfied with their families and appreciated greatly the sanctuary they so generously gave. Again, with Sandra, there were no tried and tested storylines. Olive and Sandra were a smashing pair and then Frieda and Sandra were a smashing pair. You'd have to possess a heart of stone not to be moved by this book. The anguish felt by those waiting for news from loved ones was almost tangible. The British war spirit was alive and well and each and every character was endearing and credible. Wonderfully performed by Rosie Jones, I will be seeking out more of Ms Dickson's enjoyable writing.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kirsten Carlyle
- 12-02-20
Fantastic, emotional, heartfelt listen!
I absolutely loved listening to this audiobook! Finished it within a few days! It is set during World War Two and tells the story of two girls from very different backgrounds. It was quite an emotional listen. Brilliant, well developed characters and good plot. The narrator was fantastic, so good at different accents! I would thoroughly recommend this story and will look out for more by this author! 10/10!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jan M
- 11-03-20
Heartbreaking and Poignant
The Outcast Girls by Shirley Dickson is a heartbreaking and poignant story of survival during WWII in England. The author wrote a very compelling story that pulled me in. Frieda travels from Germany to England to get away from the Holocaust. She is about 15 and doesn't know if she will ever see her family again. The friendship with Sandra was well written. The perspectives of the young girls during war was enlightening to me. Rosie Jones was fantastic with her performance. She brought the characters to life with her voice, and had appropriate emotions inflected. The book is full of both love and sorrow.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jo Reason
- 05-02-20
enjoyable
Stunning book, beautifully written, such a different storyline about the war with what happened in the UK rather than the typical warfront or POW camp book. There is plenty of emotion, details of the era and location, friendship, loss, love during the Second World War.