Put Out the Fires is the second book in Maureen Lee’s trilogy about Liverpool during World War II. She gives us a birds’ eye view of the women of Pearl Street in Bootle. We follow their daily lives as they struggle to carry on in a world they barely recognize. Battered and downhearted from the nightly bombings, these woman have to deal with life on their own as their partners are mostly away fighting the war. From marriage indiscretions, to losing a child in the bombings, to finding work to help support their families, these women cope with a quiet strength and dignity. We also see how they learn to adjust to food and clothing shortages, banding together to share and lean on each other. From using vinegar as a leavening agent, sharing milk rations to ensure a pregnant woman stays healthy, or making a jam out of turnips, the women face life with humor and comradeship.

These characters have developed and grown over the first two books into people I feel I know and care about. This look at one street in one city in Britain over the war years has caught the essence of the courage and fortitude that the British people displayed during this period, enduring hardship, pain and loss, yet all the while shaking their fist under Hitler’s nose. I can’t wait for the third book. ( )