Dear Mrs Bird by A.J. Pearce

 Dear Mrs Bird by A. J. Pearce was a light read yet not without substance. Based in London during WWII, Emmy Lake, thinking she has been hired for her dream job as a war journalist, ends up working for Mrs Bird on an advice column in a woman’s magazine. Mrs Bird is a picture of fierceness without an ounce of compassion or care for the women she writes her column for. Emmy, however, feeling deeply for these women who are struggling through wartime, secretly starts responding to letters from women, both in private letters and in the magazine, pretending to be Mrs Bird. Emmy extends warmth and kindness towards these women. 

She also volunteers for the fire department at night where she is often out helping every time air raid sirens sounded and bombs dropped on their city. This highlighted a wartime reality for women, in Emmy’s case working all day and volunteering at night, going over and beyond normal roles and duties to fill gaps needing to be filled, and extending help towards fellow humans in strife. 

It was a unique insight into life for women during wartime and how they still struggled with normal everyday struggles in amongst chaos- the letters to the magazine were often everyday questions about practical things or struggling relationships, and it brought to light, the universal truth that the mundane continues in amongst life's greatest upheavals. This book highlighted the significance of simply walking in the various vocations allocated to us, as women, in each stage and season of life, of listening and offering support in our spheres of influence, and of taking risks when reaching out to love people around us. This is, of course, our greatest calling to love one another as Christ has loved us, and what greater example is there than of Christ the very personification of love and service to His fellow man.