Henrietta Brown is the wife of a hardworking doctor in a sleepy Devonshire village.  Her days are filled with wedding the garden, participating in village functions, entertaining friends and navigating the thorny path of the doctor’s wife.  (You’re not supposed to know anything about your husband’s patients, but if you don’t ask them about their ailments when you meet them out and about, they’re instantly offended.  What to do?)  With World War II raging on the Continent, Henrietta has another role: that of correspondent to her “dear childhood friend” Robert, off fighting for King and Crown.  Henrietta writes delightful, newsy letters to Robert, keeping him up-to-date on all of the village happenings: Faith’s romantic conquests, Mrs Savernack’s latest project for securing the home front, and the irritation of the villagers – who are living in fear of a German invasion on their shores – when told by London refugees that they don’t really understand what war is like.

Henrietta’s War is breezy and fun, filled with snapshots of a village life that goes on much as it always has – notwithstanding the blackouts and the bombs falling in the next-door garden.  Lady B copes with the war by writing to Hitler every night “to tell him what she thinks of him” – and oh, how I wish some of those letters had been included in the book!  Faith dances around her faithful admirer, the Conductor, and Henrietta copes with her guilt over not doing more to help the war effort.  (Taking care of a busy doctor is a full-time job.)  Henrietta Sees It Through, the second volume of Henrietta’s letters to Robert, is a bit less breezy – but only a bit.  Tempers are beginning to fray as wartime stresses take their toll on even the most determinedly upbeat villager, and Henrietta spends a good number of pages lamenting the limited role of women in the war effort.  But there are still funny moments – such as when Henrietta plays the triangle in the village orchestra, and when she and Lady B spend a morning creeping about after an old gentleman they mistakenly believe to be a spy.  Henrietta chronicles it all – the difficult moments and the fun – with charming prose and delightful drawings, and I imagine Robert must have looked forward to every letter as a ray of sunshine from Devon.

I absolutely loved Henrietta’s War and Henrietta Sees It Through – I read them back-to-back, devoured them, and wished devoutly that they were longer.  The epistolary format worked perfectly, and I loved getting a glimpse at a village full of wonderful characters through the eyes of one of their own.  Fans of gentle fiction (especially Miss Read, of whom Henrietta constantly reminded me) and epistolary novels will enjoy diving into Henrietta’s letters.

Henrietta’s War and Henrietta Sees It Through, available here and here (not affiliate links), or support your local indie bookstore!