WREN
JANE BEACON
Total war turns all the normal social mores upside down. From the brutal treatment of civilians by soldiers who would otherwise be nice sons and brothers, to the throwing away of conventions which regulate everyday life, the demands of war change everything. Nowhere was this truer than in the role of women in World War Two. They might not have to engage in combat but everything else they could possibly do, was done. The Wren Jane Beacon series of novels explores what this meant for one high spirited young woman. Joining the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) whose members were known as Wrens, right at the start of war, Wren Jane Beacon serves throughout with the Navy’s boats to emerge as a battle-hardened leader.
This tale of an intelligent and fiercely determined girl navigating, battling and surviving the entrenched attitudes of the male Royal Navy shows human relations at their most challenging. She forms deep bonds with fellow boat crew wrens, becoming their leader and inspiration as they crew the Navy’s boats. Inter-female relationships grow in new ways as they respond to the demands placed on them by the male Navy they serve. The voyage from naive ingénue to seasoned streetwise warrior follows a long hard course which only the strongest of spirits could survive, but survive she does.
These books tell of her whole life, from driving boats to seduction and marriage; through good times and bad finding, loosing and regaining happiness. This lively girl’s emotional life is as complex as her devotion to the boats and the two become inextricably bound up together. By turns brilliant, brave and brutal, the story of Wren Jane Beacon and the boat crew Wrens became a defining image of women’s service to Navy and country during perilous times.
Published on Amazon Kindle e-books and Amazon paperbacks at competitive prices
BOOK ONE
BOOK TWO
BOOK THREE
BOOK FOUR
BOOK FIVE
I’m ex Navy and was a bit apprehensive about Wren Jane Beacon as a subject at first. But I picked it up, couldn’t put it down and finished it in one day and a very late night.
There is an enthralling and detailed description of small boat work at Dunkirk, an horrific example of how Wrens were beaten as punishment and some vivid exposure of a feminine view of sexual attitudes and practices of the time.
The subject matter is a brilliant description of generational attitudes, mess deck life and the way one gets indoctrinated into Navy culture. To get into the mindset of a young women of WW2 with very different attitudes on life and how that helped change the feminist agenda is absolutely unique. Ideal material for a TV series.
AMAZON REVIEW