Spotlight on Nancy Pike

This week I'm taking a look at Nancy Pike, ther heroine of book 3 in the Surplus Girls series, Christmas for the Surplus Girls.

Here's what readers say about Nancy in reviews:

"a sweet and wonderful character"

"Nancy's happy and caring nature shines throughout the book and what she lacks in office skills she makes up for with a huge, warm heart.

"I fell in love with Nancy as she is one of those characters who always gives of her best, even if things don't always work to plan!"

Aged 19 when the book opens, Nancy was never that bothered about school. She wasn't particularly gifted academically so she concentrated on the practical lessons – needlework, cookery and housework. She was lucky: her school was one of those with a nursery attached so that the older girls could have childcare lessons, and she enjoyed those. When she left school in 1916, hers was the last year of girls that did mothercraft. Even then, the authorities knew they were going to have a generation of surplus girls on their hands after the war ended.

Nancy lives with her parents and sisters in a crowded flat. Mum MARJORIE is a worn-out invalid suffering from pernicious anaemia. The family never has enough money and life has been a struggle for as long as Nancy can remember. Dad PERCY, for all that he is such a decent bloke and so hard-working, has somehow never managed to provide adequately for his family.

Nancy works in the pie-shop. It is an early start and she is on her feet all day, but she loves the customers. Percy takes the wind out of her sails by telling her she needs to better herself and he has arranged for her to attend a business night-school. Nancy tries to wriggle out of it. Learn office skills? Her? You must be joking. But Percy is adamant. Not only must she attend but she has to live in. Nancy is distraught. Does Percy want to get rid of her?

Readers took to Nancy right away, one of the reasons being that they liked the fact that she wasn't any good at office work! For reasons that she doesn't find out about until later on in the story, Nancy is plucked from her comfortable life behind the counter in the pie shop and dumped in the secretarial school run by Prudence and Patience Hesketh. Readers - I suppose being accustomed to heroines who are good at what they do - really loved it when Nancy couldn't get to grips with the new skills that she was obliged to learn.

Although she feels overwhelmed and inadequate in her new environment, Nancy has her strong points. She is a well-meaning and caring person with a kind heart, who would do anything to help make life easier for her beloved mother. Working in the pie shop, chatting to customers from all walks of life, has given Nancy a certain knowledge of the world and while she might not be academically clever, she isn't a fool. Above all, she is hugely loyal to her family and will put her own safety at risk in order to help them.

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Link to Christmas with the Surplus Girls on Amazon.