Constance, although revered for her work, has just lost her job as the estate manager and her home at Clivehill, working for Lord and Lady Mercer. Returning soldiers returned to their jobs or were given priority for all available work. While this is understandable, there is also another side in  this story for women who lost the ability to provide for themselves as Constance needed to and for women who were the family breadwinners.The government of the day thought that they provided amply for widows with a pension, but not all were widowed.

Trouser wearing Poppy Wirrall is the daughter of a land owning baronet. During the War, Poppy was a despatch rider, an important service transmitting messages. She grew to love riding motorcycles and her role in the War. Now she has a  business, providing taxi transport for ladies using their motorcycles and side cars as the Wirrall Ladies Conveyance. Together with a group of trouser wearing ladies who also ride motorcycles they have formed the Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle Club with its headquarters in Poppy's barn on the family's property. 

Poppy's  handsome brother Captain Harris Wirral is a returned ace fighter pilot who lost a leg below the knee and is rather withdrawn, at times quite morose.  A neighbouring business owned by Mayor Morris is like many in the era unwilling to believe that a disabled pilot could be employed. As Harris said, it is his leg that is missing, not his brain and he does wear a prosthetic leg.

Mayor Morris lives to regret his decision once Harris gets behind the controls of a Sopworth Camel that his sister purchases as a wreck at an auction after a motorcycle race, which he and his former Sergeant restore. There is quite a lot more to this part of the story, notably therapeutic. Not only is the Sopworth Camel restored - so too is (Sergeant) Jock who has lost his whole family and so is Harris. Now that Harris is well again, one of the over-indulged and spoiled Morris twins who coerced him into an engagement before the War, becomes the fly in the ointment as Harris and Constance are enjoying each other's company.

We also read the entertaining, carefully intertwined side story as Rachel, daughter of Lord and Lady Mercer returns home with her bigoted, brash, boorish, loud American fiancé to marry. He goes to Paris for a few days as part of a government delegation to work on the Treaty of Versailles, leaving Rachel to enjoy time with her family and friends and for underlying gossip to rear it's head.

Mrs Fog has her own romantic story which she must keep secret until after her grand-daughter Rachel's marriage to for fear it could wreck her chances with her fiancé.

The story of the German waiter, Klaus Ziegler, who efficiently tends to the group at the hotel and his romantic secret is a poignant one, but not without sadness for the way in which he is treated.

The  Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is a joy to read. It is beautifully written, it has multi-faced stories, with love, animosity, resentment, triumph, celebrations, a look at life in the early 1900s. It is also an insight into life for women, their prospects, expectations and prejudices of the times. There are several intriguing moments, some unexpected twists and I was pleased to see a very heartwarming ending. A book that I would re-read in the future.

About the author

Helen Simonson was born in England and spent her teenage years in a small village in East Sussex. A graduate of the London School of Economics, she lives in the United States and is a dual citizen and proud New Yorker. Married, with two sons, she is the author of the bestselling novels Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and The Summer Before the War.

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