THE BEANTOWN GIRLS by Jean Healey & Giveaway

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

1944: WWII

THE BEANTOWN GIRLS (LakeUnionPublishing), is author, Jane Healey’s follow up to the hugely successful, THE SATURDAY EVENING GIRLS CLUB. THE BEANTOWN GIRLS presents a unique story about a little known group of women, who played an important part in supporting the troops, during World War II.

Boston college friends, Fiona, Viviana and Dottie voluntarily sign up to go to the front lines of WWII. They are accepted for the prestigious assignment of being Red Cross Clubmobile Girls. Women with education, personality and talent who bring soldiers in the field symbols of warmth from home.

Though each woman possesses exceptional inner strength and outer charm, the trio is unprepared for the challenges posed by war. At times they must summon a kind of courage they never knew they had. Amid the adversity and constant danger comes new friendships, romances, and dreams that the friends never imagined would come true.

We, the readers will identify with at least one of the women, as each becomes aware of who she is and the real reason she made the journey to the front lines of the war. I fell in love with all three and wish I was part of a trio of such BFFs.

This work of historical fiction was made possible by the real-life Red Cross Clubmobile Girls themselves. According to author, Jane Healey, they were “fantastic writers who documented their experiences in meticulous and thoughtful ways.”

Behind The Beantown Girls: An interview with Jane Healey:

What inspired you to write this novel?
I really wanted to find another lesser known story about Saturday Evening Girls Club. When I discovered the stories of the Clubmobile girls of WWII, their accounts of
their experiences were so captivating, I felt for sure someone had written a novel about them already. When I realized there wasn’t one about them out there, I knew
theirs was the story I wanted to tell.

What was so special to you about these little-known women in history?
I think they were extraordinary in so many ways – their adventurous spirit, their work ethic, their compassion. I was really inspired by their choice to become Clubmobile
Girls – to leave the comfort of home and family and travel overseas to work so close to the front lines of the war. Sometimes their working conditions were absolutely brutal, and they witnessed so many of the horrors of war, yet in their writings they spoke of those times with such bravery and selfishness – always reminding themselves that the soldiers they were supporting had it so much worse.

Do you have a trio of best friends, and how much have your own friendships influenced this novel?
I don’t have a trio, but I have lifelong friends that I met in school many years ago that know me so well. I think there are certain stages – like when you’re in your twenties figuring out what you’re going to do for the rest of your life – that you really lean on your friends, they become an extended family. I think that’s the case with Dottie, Viv and Fiona and their extended group of friends in their Clubmobile group.

Which character are you most like?
I think I am a little bit like Fiona but more introverted like Dottie. Viv is probably the one that I identify with the least!

If you could have readers take one thing away from your book what would it be?
I think this ultimately is a novel about women daring greatly and I want readers to be inspired by their stories. Like the real Red Cross Clubmobile Girls, the war altered the course of these characters’ lives forever, but in becoming Clubmobile Girls, by daring to choose a different path, their futures were altered in such amazing and extraordinary ways.

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Jane Healey left a career in high tech to become a freelance writer. Her passion for historical fiction became her new career when her debut novel, The Saturday Evening Girls Club, was published in 2017. Based on the true story of a group of Jewish and Italian immigrant women in Boston’s North End at theturn of the twentieth century, the Amazon bestseller was hailed by Redbook as “a breathtaking ode to female empowerment and the American dream.”

Jane Healey shares a home north of Boston with her husband, two daughters, and two cats. When she’s not writing historical fiction, she enjoys running, reading, cooking and going to the beach.

For more information on the author, her work and upcoming events:

Website: www.janehealey.com.
Facebook: facebook.com/JaneHealeyBooks/
Twitter and Instagram:@healeyjane

Thanks to GetRedPR we have a copy of THE BEANTOWN GIRLS to giveaway. Just tell us your thoughts about historical fiction. We’ll announce a winner soon. Good luck.

GIVEAWAY: USA only please.