A Girl’s Guide To Spying
By Holly Webb
Published by Oneworld Publications

It was always going to grab my attention! Acclaimed children’s author Holly Webb combines her talent to write and engage with the history of Girl guiding.
What’s not to love!

Did you know that the Girl Guides worked undercover for MI5 during the First World War? We learn about the trauma and loss of the many men who lost their lives. But behind the scenes, many women risked everything when they took up the roles of spying. A great story full of all the qualities that Girl guiding offers: friendship, honesty, loyalty, adventure and fun! To name only a few!
 
Phyl is dragged along to the Girl Guides by her younger sister, Annie. She is spotted as being observant but not nosey, curious and loyal. So when her Guide captain offers her a job as a messenger for MI5, Phyl is desperate to prove her worth and play her part. Surrounded by men and put down by the Boy Scouts, she is thrilled to be proving girls can work with spies too.
 
But things don’t go quite as planned and Phyl can’t do anything right in the eyes of the grumpy Major Warren. Trying to right some wrongs and find her place, Phyl discovers too many things. The two sisters along with their troop must work together to unpick the inconsistencies and piece this mystery together.
A missing Major!
A foul stench blamed on the plumbing!
A stolen document!
An innocent victim blamed!

With persuasion and proof will their friends from the Rose Patrol believe them and solve the mystery?
Would you be ready to help your fellow Girl guides?

I loved the plot! I loved the history and factual content! And the whole ethos of righting a wrong as part of a group. Nice work Holly and thank you for putting Girl guiding back in the limelight!

Joanne Bardgett - teacher of littlies, lover of Children’s literature.
#Netgallery

Girl guide turns into being a spy and this is the kind of content I was looking for!

This was my first by Webb and not my last!

As a big fan of the best-selling author Holly Webb, I knew that I was going to love her latest book A Girl’s Guide to Spying - even without the pull of a great title and gorgeous blue cover.
In a departure from @hollywebbauthor usual books about animals and/or magic, A Girl’s Guide to Spying is set in London at the time of the First World War. The heroine, Phyl’s expectations are low when she is made to join Girl Guides. Little does Phil realise that joining the guides will lead to her working for MI5. Life immediately becomes a lot more exciting and dangerous for Phyl and her friends as they are further caught up in espionage and murder!
Holly Webb is an accomplished writer and A Girls Guide to Spying rattles along at pace. The writing sparkles, the characters come alive and the pages turn themselves in this exciting, twisty read. Listed as Book 1- A Rose Patrol Mystery, I can’t wait for book 2 and hopefully more.

I don’t think I could have enjoyed this book more than I did! I absolutely loved it.

We follow our plucky little Girl Scouts as they not only navigate through the war but their missions to get badges, do war work oh, and solve a murder and a mystery or two along the way.

You could tell how much research and love has gone into this book and it made for such enjoyable reading. I genuinely loved all the characters, the writing itself was great and the plot was super compelling (both for young readers and *cough* older readers like me). The author really got the tone of the times right too and it was all just balanced so well.

I hope there will be more to come because it’s set itself up to be a great series and one I’ll definitely be on the lookout for in the future.