Margaret Mayhew’s involving, atmospheric and captivating wartime sagas are in a class of their own and the re-release of two of her best-known titles, The Boat Girls and Our Yanks is sure to delight her legion of existing fans and win her scores of new readers.

In The Boat Girls, it’s 1943 and the war shows no sign of slowing down. With everybody determined to do their duty for king and country, three girls from three very different backgrounds decide that the time has come for them to do their bit for the war effort and to try their hardest to help defeat the enemy. Privileged Frances has had enough of sitting on the side-lines while other women roll up their sleeves to help out their country. The time has come for her to shake off the stifling shackles which her overbearing parents have imposed upon her and help out working on the canal boats and delivering goods, a job that had been the preserve of men prior to the war. The work will be tough and the hours long and laborious, but Frances is going to meet two other girls with whom she will form a very tight bond. Actress Rosalind is a pretty girl who finds herself falling in love with a man far above her social reach – Frances’s stuffy elder brother. Meanwhile, timid Prudence imagined that her life would be boring and conventional – until the war came along and widened her horizons and made her realise that there is more to life than a dull job at the bank.

The lives of these three different girls are going to change beyond all recognition, but what won’t change is the fact that through the good times and the bad, Frances, Prudence and Rosalind will be always be there for each other.

In Our Yanks, the Northamptonshire village of King’s Thorpe is a sleepy little town where nothing much happens. The world might be at war, but in King’s Thorpe life is still as uneventful and unexciting as always – until a fighter group of US airmen come to town and turn everyone’s life upside down with their glamour, good looks and bravado. The older members of the community might not exactly be overjoyed at the new arrivals, but the younger girls in the village couldn’t be more thrilled!

Sally Barnett is immediately bowled over by the handsome new arrivals and she plans to use every weapon in her arsenal to win them over. Rector’s daughter Agnes, meanwhile, was stunned when she found herself experiencing emotions and feelings which she never imagined she would go through and for the newly widowed Lady Beauchamp, the Yanks might just end up providing her with a measure of happiness she never imagined she would feel ever again.

Nothing will ever be the same again in the sleepy town of King’s Thorpe and for the women whose lives will be changed forever by a handsome group of American airmen!

Margaret Mayhew is a fantastic writer who writes compelling and evocative historical sagas full of humour, drama and plenty of heart. The Boat Girls and Our Yanks are immensely enjoyable page-turners full of strong and resilient heroines, emotional and heart-warming plots and evocative descriptions of life in wartime England.

As the nights starting drawing in, fans looking for good old-fashioned storytelling at its best need to look no further than Margaret Mayhew’s The Boat Girls and Our Yanks.

I was not able to get interested in this book and I did not finish it. The characters and the plot were not able to catch or keep my attention.

I first read this book when it was published in 2007. I remember it taught me about the girls working on the canals during the war; Margaret Mayhew's books taught me a lot about war history. I enjoyed re-reading the book as much as I enjoyed it the first time I read it. The characters can all be related to and understood. The writing style is good and they are very easy to read.

During World War II, women were recruited to work on the canals in England. They transported steel, coal and other war necessities. This was a wonderful story about 3 women who worked the canals, as they learned the job and interacted with the people who lived on the canals. Loved reading this book and learning about a facet of the war which I had never heard about.

Three young women highlight the largely unsung contribution the female workforce made to the second world war effort. I loved this book and feel enriched by the research of amazing historical details of life choices during WW2. The three women are immensely likeable but from diverse backgrounds in terms of social class and life experience. They form strong friendships as they train and work on the inland waterway ferrying essential supplies from the docks to the factories in the Midlands. A really uplifting novel about friendship, hard work, commitment, and love. I could not put this book down.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for an honest review.

I hadn't heard of boat girls, so I read this historical saga with interest and really enjoyed the waterways theme. The characters were well drawn, as was the relationship between them.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Told from three young women's points of view The Boat Girls highlights the largely unsung contribution this female workforce made to the second world war effort. The three women are from diverse backgrounds in terms of social class and life experience. They form strong friendships as they train and work on the inland waterway ferrying essential supplies from the docks to the factories in the Midlands.

The characters are relatable and easy to empathise, their experiences are interesting as they try to gain acceptance from the traditional boating communities. There's friendship, laughter, poignancy and romance for the three women who mature and emerge independent and stronger than before.

There are some interesting historical details, in this character driven historical saga which add depth to an enjoyable story.

I received a copy of this book from Transworld Publishers via NetGalley in return for an honest

A story of three women who are all very different and are all thrown together to deliver essential supplies on the canals and waterways of Britain, mainly transporting good between the London Docks and the Midlands. This service for the was was not as well known as the Land Girls due to there only being small numbers of women who did the work, but this was as essential as being a Land Girl in the war.
Set in 1943 there is Frances, a woman who is from a privilefed background but determined to do something to escape her brother. Rosalind,an actress with as you could guess a totally different life than Frances. Prudence is a shy woman, a bank clerk and needs to escape boredom and a man!
We explore the practicalities and hardships of living on the water, as well as how these boat girls were treated by others who had been living on the water for years.The primitive sanitation, cramped living conditions and the actual cargo they moved all add up to a pretty gritty and as far removed as possible from every one of the girls lifes as humanely possible.
We are witness to the friendships made and the romances that play out. I was fully there, in the horrible conditions with these three girls and , omg, why did I not know about these poor women from this time! A truly interesting and enlightening read.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random Things Tours for the copy of the book .

A fantastic book from Margaret Mathew. I love anything that has a WW2 theme which this book does plus the wonderful sage of the Inland Waterways girls that provided such an essential service. The relationship between them and those that have lived their whole lives on the canals is both amusing and frightening. Great historic atmosphere. Thanks Margaret and NetGalley

The Boat Girls by Margaret Mayhew is historical fiction based on the real life Boat Girls who worked the canals in England during WWII.

Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this book, especially those, like myself, who had not heard of The Boat Girls.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers and Netgalley. My review is voluntary.

The title and the cover attracted me.


I must confess, this is not my favourite book I would read usually. I have read one of the author’s book, Our Yanks. I enjoyed it so much that I carried the expectation into this book and I wasn’t satisfied.


Maybe somebody who enjoys a book full of women actively involved in helping the war will find this book worth the reading time.


I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are mine.

Brilliant read here ,
It had fantastic characters and great storyline Would definitely recommend others to read who like the sort of book
Definitely give this book a 4 star

Three girls from totally different backgrounds were thrown together when they volunteered to work the canals in WW2 . I had no idea that this was part of the war work for women. They worked and lived on narrowboats transporting vital supplies up and down the canals. It was hard work, living in cramped conditions in the freezing winters they were sometimes stuck for days when the canals froze solid. There is an element of romance and heartache that adds to the story as a whole.

If you are interested in discovering new parts of history, which you knew nothing about. then you might like to read this book. "The Boat Girls" presents a fictionalized account of women working on the "narrowboats" on the canals in England during World War II. These women fulfilled a valuable role in transporting materials on the inland waterways, which made it more difficult for the goods to be targeted by Germans. The work was difficult and dirty, but the women dedicated themselves to serving their country despite skepticism of their families and criticism by others working the waterways. The stories of three women, each from a different background, form the heart of this book. The descriptions of the boats and locks were somewhat difficult to follow without some diagrams, but the story is interesting and captivating. Readers will get a good idea of what it was like to serve on these boats.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Margaret Mayhew's The Boat Girls addresses an interesting and (to me) new topic: the women who worked the British waterways during World War II. I've read a great deal of historical fiction set in Britain during the time period in question, but none that have even touched on this issue. We all know the factory girls and the land girls, but Mayhew offers a compelling argument that the boat girls should be equally well known. The strongest aspect of this book is unquestionably the underlying research and Mayhew's knack for identifying a new story. The romance and characters are somewhat less strong--but still hold up well, particularly in this genre. I would recommend this work to anyone who thinks they've read from A to Z in World War II historical fiction. It's a pleasure to discover something new.

The Boat Girls byMargaret Mayhew is the story of three young women from varied backgrounds (an actress, a bank accountant, an heiress) who work the narrow boats on the canals in England during WWII. There’s lots of geographic information & details on how the narrow boats work. That makes the story rather laborious getting through. The hopes & dreams of these young women make the book bearable.

Fab book! I learnt so much about the women who volunteered to work on the canals during the war. I didnt realise canals were still so much in use at this time. So really interesting social history, all wrapped up in the story of three volunteers. WW2, bombing, rationing, hardship and a great story of female emancipation and the bonds created. Cant recommend this book more highly!

Set during WWII, this story of the friendship and lives of three women was very enveloping. Enjoyed how the writing style pulled me in as if I were stepping back in time.

Really good book. I love history and this really goes into a part I don't know much about. The characters are really strong. Great read.

I am not sure why The Boat Girls showed up in my recommended titles on NetGalley.com, other than the fact that I do have a penchant for reading World War II fiction. Margaret Mayhew was not on my radar of authors to read, but when I did sit down to read this book, I found it fascinating, so much so that I read it in one sitting. It's just that good.

The Boat Girls describes the life of the narrow boats on the canals in England, the difficulties of moving materials where they need to be, the hardships of life on the boats, and the desires of young women to be useful in the war effort. Frances, Prudence, and Rosalind are three unlikely compatriots on the Orpheus and Euripides canal boats, doing what they can to deliver goods where they need to go.

There is a little bit of romance included in the book, but it is not the overwhelming pull of the plot, and part of the romance that is included is not very satisfactory in that it doesn't detail the relationships' developments. However, that does not detract from the overall quality of the book. Margaret's research into the canal boats, or "narrow boats" as they are called in the book, is eye-opening for this American who knew nothing of this part of World War II history. I really enjoyed reading about the boaters lifestyle, and the lives of the boaters themselves, even though this was a work of fiction.

I wish I could give this more than five stars, but that is the maximum I am allowed. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a windlass for the locks up ahead.

Random House UK and NetGalley.com provided the galley I read for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.