Emmy Lake jumps at the chance of a job in journalism – except it turns out to be on Woman’s Friend magazine, typing up letters for Henrietta Bird’s old-fashioned agony aunt page You could win a copy ...

A Tasmania police detective has shed light on why she decided to have another look at the sudden death of Helen Bird. Latest from the inquest. The 43-year-old mother of three’s death at her home in ...

Picador has won a debut novel by A J Pearce, Dear Mrs Bird, after a "passionately-fought" seven-publisher auction. Francesca Main acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Dear Mrs Bird in a "major" ...

In her witty, deceptively simple debut, AJ Pearce conjures up a world of courage and perseverance that seems sadly alien to modern life in the West. Set during the London Blitz of the second World War ...

A jolly romp through London in the blitz sounds like an unlikely idea for a novel, but Dear Mrs Bird is full of poignant moments that cut through the froth of its narrator’s voice. Miss Emmeline Lake ...

It’s 1940 and 22-year-old Emmeline Lake is an aspiring journalist who longs to contribute to the war effort. “If there was anything I wanted most in the world (other of course than for the war to end ...