LDV—Local Defense Volunteers. After 1940, this force was known as the Home Guard and unofficially as “Dad’s Army.” Those otherwise ineligible for military service due to age or other considerations were enlisted to serve as a volunteer auxiliary defense force in case of German invasion.
MTC—Mechanized Transport Corps. This organization provided drivers for military and government departments at home in Britain and abroad. It also took over much of the driving duties for foreign dignitaries unfamiliar with British rules of the road.
NAAFI—Navy, Army, and Air Force Institute. Formed in 1921 to run recreation centers and canteens for the armed services, NAAFI also sold goods and services to the military and their families at home and abroad. By 1944, it managed over 7,000 canteens and employed around 96,000 personnel.
QA—Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. Created in 1902, this group was the nursing branch of the British Army. Women employed as QA nurses had to be at least twenty-five years old, single or newly widowed, and of good social standing, and have completed a three-year nursing course.
RASC—Royal Army Service Corps. With the exception of weaponry and ammunition, the RASC provided transport, logistics, and supply services as part of the British armed forces.
VAD—Voluntary Aid Detachment. Created in 1919 under the direction of the British Red Cross to offer nursing assistance, VAD volunteers were trained in first aid, hygiene, and sanitation in order to free up male orderlies for other military duties. By World War II, their roles expanded to include work as nurses, pharmacists, radiographers, and lab technicians.
WAAF—Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. The women’s branch of the Royal Air Force, WAAF worked at such jobs as mechanic, photographic interpreter, and radar plotter.
WI—Women’s Institute. Founded in Wales in 1915, WI was a community-based organization for rural women. During World War II, its pacifist philosophy did not allow contributions directly to the war effort. Instead, it focused on food production and caring for evacuees.
WLA—Women’s Land Army. Re-formed in 1939, this organization, at its height, put nearly 87,000 women to work on England’s farms. No job was too difficult, and “Land Girls” often found themselves doing such things as plowing, lambing, and threshing.
WRNS (Wrens)—Women’s Royal Naval Service. The women’s branch of the Royal Navy, WRNS mostly covered shore-based duties, working as radar, telegraph, and telephone operators; meteorologists; and intelligence gatherers, and a small number served on motor torpedo boat patrols. By 1944, 8.5 percent of the Royal Navy was female.
WVS—Women’s Voluntary Service. Formed in 1938 to help civilians after air raids, this group started out assisting evacuees. But their responsibilities quickly expanded to include organizing lectures on important wartime topics, running mobile canteens, and arranging temporary housing for victims of bombings.
P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*
About the Author
* * *
Meet Alix Rickloff
About the Book
* * *
Reading Group Discussion Questions
Read On . . .
* * *
Have You Read? More from Alix Rickloff
Sources
About the Author
Meet Alix Rickloff
ALIX RICKLOFF is a critically acclaimed author of historical and paranormal romance. Her previous novels include Secrets of Nanreath Hall (HarperCollins, 2016), the Bligh Family series (Kensington, 2009), the Heirs of Kilronan trilogy (Pocket, 2011), and, as Alexa Egan, the Imnada Brotherhood series (Pocket, 2014). She lives in Maryland with her husband and children.
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About the Book
Reading Group Discussion Questions
1. What did you think of Lucy at the outset of the story? Did you find her an unlikable character? A sympathetic character? Why?
2. Mrs. Pratchett and her daughters leave Singapore while Lady Amelia and Fortescue choose to stay. If threatened by war, could you leave everything you own and flee, or would you remain behind and hope for the best? Do you know anyone who’s made this decision?
3. Bill and Lucy come from very different backgrounds, but they share many similarities. What are they? What in their lives might have contributed to this resemblance in temperament?
4. Bill is one of thousands of children who left their homes and families during the evacuation of London at the outbreak of World War II. If you were a parent during that time, would you have kept your children with you or sent them away? Explain your choice.
5. All three main characters travel to London in search of something. Do all three find what they are looking for?
6. In the end, Lucy has to make a choice that will affect the rest of her life. What are some difficult choices you’ve had to make? Looking back, do you feel you made the right decisions?
7. Lucy encounters many different mothers throughout her journey. Which mother did you most identify with? Which mother do you feel played the most pivotal role in the story? Explain.
8. Lucy identifies with Mrs. Britt’s desire to ignore reality and live in a dream. Why do you suppose that is? What realities does Lucy ignore? What makes her finally face the truth?
9. Both Michael and Lucy form poor first impressions of each other and slowly revise their opinions over the course of the long trip to London. Have your instincts ever been wrong when it came to someone?
10. Lucy constantly compares herself to her mother, Lady Amelia, throughout the book, and by the end is afraid she is becoming just like her. Are there any ways in which you see similarities between yourself and your mother? Give examples.
Read On
Have You Read? More from Alix Rickloff
SECRETS OF NANREATH HALL
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Cornwall, 1940. Back in England after the harrowing evacuation at Dunkirk, World War II Red Cross nurse Anna Trenowyth finds herself unexpectedly assigned to Nanreath Hall—her dead mother’s childhood home. All Anna has left of her mother, Lady Katherine Trenowyth, are vague memories that tease her with clues she can’t unravel. Anna knows this could be the chance for her to finally become acquainted with the family she’s never known—and to learn the truth about her past.
Cornwall, 1913. In the luxury of pre–World War I England, Lady Katherine Trenowyth is expected to do nothing more than make a smart marriage. When bohemian painter Simon Halliday enters her world, Katherine begins to question the future that was so carefully laid out for her. Her choices soon lead her away from the stability of her home and family toward a wild existence of life, art, and love.
As Anna is drawn into her newfound family’s lives and their tangled loyalties, she must decide if the secrets of the past are too dangerous to unearth . . . and if the family she’s discovered is one she can keep.
Sources
While drawing on countless sources to write The Way to London, I found these books and websites particularly instructive and inspirational.
Growing Up in British Malaya and Singapore: A Time of Fireflies and Wild Guavas by Maurice Baker
The British Army 1939–45 (3): The Far East by Martin J. Brayley
The British Home Front 1939–45 by Martin J. Brayley
A Bethnal Green Memoir by Derek Houghton
Journey by Candlelight: A Memoir by Anne Kennaway
Luke’s Log by K. D. Luke
The West End Front: The Wartime Secrets of London’s Grand Hotels by Matthew Sweet
No Time to Wave Goodbye by Ben Wicks
British Red Cross, Caring on the Home Front: Volunteer Memories from World War Two / www.caringonthehomefront.org.uk
Imperial War Museums / www.iwm.org.uk
Remember Singapore / www.remembersingapore.org
WW2 People’s War: An Archive of World War Two Memories / http://www.bbc.co.uk
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Praise
for Alix Rickloff
“Vivid writing . . . an exciting voice in historical fiction.”
—Renée Rosen, bestselling author of White Collar Girl
“Alix Rickloff establishes herself as an up-and-coming talent in the historical fiction genre.”
—Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of America’s First Daughter
“I eagerly await more from this sensitive and gifted novelist.”
—Jennifer Robson, internationally bestselling author of Moonlight Over Paris
Also by Alix Rickloff
The Way to London
Secrets of Nanreath Hall
Credits
Cover design by Elsie Lyons
Cover photographs: © Rekha Arcangel / Arcangel (woman); © Shutterstock (background)
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE WAY TO LONDON. Copyright © 2017 by Alix Rickloff. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2017 ISBN 978-0-06-243321-3
ISBN 978-0-06-243320-6
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