Sybil Paige meets her former art teacher Dame Lily Brampton who’s visiting London from Norfolk and she suggests Sybil apply to join the War Artists Advisory Committee and they want female artists to travel around England recording what’s happening to everyday British citizens and from a woman’s perspective.

While she waiting she teaches at an art school in Luton, here she meets Blanche and Ellen, two fellow artists and teachers. The three women become close friends, Blanche is offered a position in the Recording Britain Project and Sybil joins the War Artists Advisory Committee and Ellen keeps honing her skills.

Sybil is given a six month commission, with her passes and sketchbooks she sets off by train. During her travels Sybil visits airfields, assembly lines, farms, pop up cafes, and sees a woman shoveling ashes from a furnace, when she takes off her helmet she's shocked to see the lady is middle aged, she worked during The Great War and returned to help during the Second World War. Where ever she goes Sybil witnesses terrible suffering, all of England is being bombed, she sees a women pushing an empty pram, a man scrambling through rubble looking for his family and much more!

Sybil’s confidence grows, she has a purpose and the War Artists Advisory Committee is very happy with her work, her friendships with Dame Lily, Aunty Myrtle, Blanche and Ellen are meaningful and the women are kindred spirits. But it’s hard to feel safe, when the English coast is covered by landmines and barbed wire and they could be invaded.

I was given a digital copy of The War Artist by Jan Casey from Aria & Aries and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the author’s fifth novel, I think it’s her best, I felt a real connection to the characters and cared what happened to them. It makes you about how Sybil felt when she received a telegram, informing her husband is missing in action, her despair and wondering if she will ever know what happened to him and did she rush into marriage? Sybil wasn't alone, thousands of wives and mothers dreaded seeing the telegram boy and hoped he would ride past their house.

Art is a way to express feelings, and how a person comprehends the situation or subject, preserving it for future generations to see, to never forget the suffering and sacrifices made, the narrative has an overall theme of strong and resilient women, and five stars from me.netgalley netgalley-challenge-202458 s4 comments Louise Wilson3,153 1,666

"Excuse me," the man interrupted her as if there was absolutely nothing she could say to comfort him. "I have to get on with my digging." Then be stabbed violently at her sketchbook with his finger. "Get it all down," he snarled. "Every single disgusting, pathetic detail and shove it in their faces."

London, 1940: Following a chance meeting with her former teacher, young painter Alison Paige wins a coveted assignment from the War Artists Advisory Committee, and so begins her journey across the length and breadth of the country, sketching everything from airfields to assembly lines, to farms and factories. Sometimes it's milkmaids and poultry keepers, brave and hopeful; sometimes it's the harrowed faces of those digging through the rubble to find their loved ones and livelihoods. But armed with her sketchbook, Sybil catches all, determined to tell the stories of the thousands of women fighting their own battles on the home front. Above all, she wants the voices of her subjects to shine through.

When Sybil met her former art teacher, Dame Lily Brampton, she advises Sybil that she could be a great help in the War Artists Advisory Committee as they want women to record the events that are occurring all over Britain. Sybil makes friends with Blanche and Ellen at an art school.

What a well-written and entertaining read this book was. Sybil travels the country, painting the scenes she comes across. The characters were well-developed and able. Sybil witnesses the worst kind of suffering during WWII. This is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Published 9th May

I would to thank #NetGalley #Aria&Aries and the author #JanCasey for my ARC of #TheWarArtist in exchange for an honest review.6 s Maree Gray107 2

I was first drawn to this book by the striking blues and red of the cover, then the intriguing title. The blurb sealed the deal.

Sybil is a young artist, all alone in the world, having received a telegram that her husband missing. World War 2 is raging, affecting everyone.
Needing a means to support herself, Sybil is fortunate to win an assignment from the War Artists' Advisory Committee (WAAC) to cover the length and breadth of the country, sketching women and how their lives have been affected by the war.
She encounters brave women wherever she goes, who are just getting on with things because they have no other option. Women working at airfields, on assembly lines, repairing locomotives or farming. Whatever is needed to be done.
Sybil gives these women a voice, telling their stories through her brilliant sketches.
I absolutely adored Sybil and the other central characters she becomes close to. They became family to me, and I was totally invested in all of them.

I read this over 2 days, unable to tear myself away. I laughed and cried along this journey. It was a history lesson no other.
I hadn’t read any books by Jan Casey before, but I will certainly be searching for them now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria for the digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
1 Angela Brown62 3

Thank you for the chance to read this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

This was a fascinating insight into an area of wartime work about which I had no idea.
It tells of artists, often women, who were commissioned to paint either views of War or the lives of those living through the War. In a way it’s a snapshot of time in a period of upset and in some ways the inevitability of the effects of war.
Sybil had met her old tutor and then two other ladies who became part of her life and art.

The book was well written and well researched and kept me hooked till the end.

Thank you Jane Blake337 2

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