This is part of my Summer Reads series where I’ll be sharing book recommendations – a series of “not just cookbooks”.
This weeks Summer Reads pick is one that came across my desk recently that I couldn’t resist because it intrigued me – an historical fiction romance set during the First World War in Newfoundland, specifically, Heart’s Content cable station? Sign me up!
From the publisher:
Frankie George has never had an easy life. She is a social outcast with a mysterious past who hides her beauty by dressing in men’s trousers with her hair twisted up under a shabby hat. She is responsible for two troublesome younger sisters but the only work she can find is doing jobs no one else wants.
It is 1916, the middle of the First World War, and the Heart’s Content cable station in Newfoundland is the only communications link to Europe. It is discovered that information about the movements of British and American convoys is leaking to the enemy from the cable station. An American, Linton Colt-Lodge, arrives to mastermind the search for a spy and he keeps crossing paths with Frankie. He soon thinks she could be the spy they are searching for–a beautiful and tempting spy. To keep a watch on Frankie, Linton invites Frankie to train to become one of the first female cable operators at the station.
A romantic spy novel set during a time when communications technology changed history.
Ok, let’s back up a bit – a cable station at Heart’s Content in Newfoundland during WWI? Yes, there was! It’s now an historic site that Neil and I happen to have visited over 20 years ago!
The station itself is a time capsule of the communications technology that connected us all with the equipment room remaining as it was when the station closed in the 1960s. Built in 1875, the station was expanded in 1918 after the First World War.
The telegraph service expanded during First World War and the company began hiring local women to work as telegraph operators. The company offered outport women of the area the opportunity to work in a skilled trade on an equal footing with men. Women operators received the same pay and opportunity as their male counterparts. With the end of the First World War the staff were substantially reduced. Many of the women hired during the war years were laid off or sought work at other cable stations, primarily in the United States. Others left the service after they married.
Where the Heart Is is a well-researched novel; the level of detail is impressive, especially considering, according to Sheppard,
there are almost no documents on the technical iterations that happened inside the station, very little on the everyday workflow that must have changed every few months, especially during the war when the British were anxious to maintain communication supremacy. One of the first things the British did when war was declared in 1914 was to send ships to destroy all the German cables. I had to string together tiny bits of information and envision how it might have been. My years as a journalist helped, I think, for me to strive for accuracy.
And why a romance? Well Sheppard visited the museum and saw “ photos on the wall of the women who were hired during WWI. They looked so interesting and intelligent that I couldn’t help but wonder what their world would have been like.”
I’ve read a lot of historical fiction set in both World Wars but mainly set in Europe so it’s refreshing to come across a story set somewhere you might not expect there to be “Word War” action and a bonus that it’s in Canada AND somewhere I’ve been! This really was a wonderful dive into the daily lives of the Newfoundland people at the time of the War; Sheppard paints a vivid picture of both the hardships and small joys of life at the time.
I will say there are a lot of characters to keep track of – I would have appreciated a diagram showing who was who and how they were connected (but this might just be how my brain works these days and I was also reading the e-book which I find more challenging for keeping track – it’s not as easy to flip back through pages to remind yourself about a character/ event). Once I got into the story and had the characters straight, this was a fast read. There is a lot going on with the many characters – yes there is a romance and a spy story element, but there are many other side plots that will grab your attention too.
An enjoyable, informative and fascinating look at an era that really shaped modern communications, highly recommended as a #summerread (or really as a cozy winter read too!).
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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am not receiving any compensation for reviewing the book. Neither the author nor the publisher reviewed this post prior to publication. All opinions are my own.
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