Set during London’s blitz and filled with warmth, wit and heartbreak, Dear Mrs Bird is a wartime story about the power of friendship, the kindness of strangers and the courage of ordinary people.

London, 1941. Amid the falling bombs Emmeline Lake dreams of becoming a fearless Lady War Correspondent. Unfortunately, Emmy instead finds herself employed as a typist for the terrifying Henrietta Bird, the renowned agony aunt at Woman’s Friend magazine. Mrs Bird refuses to read, let alone answer, letters containing any form of Unpleasantness, and definitely not letters from the women the war has left lovelorn, grief-stricken or conflicted.

But the thought of these desperate women waiting for an answer becomes impossible for Emmy to ignore. She decides she simply must help and secretly starts to write back – after all, what harm could that possibly do?

‘AJ Pearce is one of those rare writers who make you laugh and cry on the same page and keeps you turning the pages until you’ve finished. A wonderful new voice.’ ― Katie Fforde

‘I’ve never read a novel that has grabbed me by the heart quite so much as this one.’ ― Shelley Harris

‘I love this book.’ ― Julie Cohen