Bomb Girls Books in Order

Set in wartime Gosport on the south coast of England, the Bomb Girls books follow the women working at Priddy's Hard munitions factory. With so many men away at the front, they take on dangerous, badly paid jobs filling shells and handling explosives. The work stains their skin, rattles their nerves and puts them in constant danger, yet it also brings a fierce sense of pride and camaraderie.

In The Munitions Girls the focus is on nineteen year old Pixie Saunders, who is trying to keep a roof over her head after her feckless mother disappears with yet another man. Long shifts in the factory are followed by evenings in the pub or at dances with her best friend Rita and kind hearted overseer Em watching over the girls. When Pixie falls for American sailor Cal and is left pregnant and alone, it is the support of the other bomb girls that keeps her going.

The Canary Girls shifts the spotlight to Rita Brown, left scarred by a factory explosion but determined to get back to work. Her romance with charming wide boy Blackie Bristow pulls her into the murky world of the black market, where stockings and lipstick are bought with risk attached. At the same time someone at Priddy's is leaking secrets to the enemy, and Rita finds herself wondering whether loyalty to a man should outweigh loyalty to her friends and her country.

In The Factory Girls Em Earle moves centre stage as doodlebugs begin to fall on the south coast after D Day. Em is juggling her responsibilities as floor supervisor, her daughter Lizzie's unexpected pregnancy and the sudden arrival of a woman claiming to be a long lost sister. Local crook Samuel Golden is circling the factory and the town, looking for new ways to profit from shortages and fear, and Em has to decide how far she will go to protect those she loves.

By the time of The Gunpowder and Glory Girls the war is drawing to a close, but life at Priddy's is no less fraught. Gladys, now promoted to overseer, is lonely after many of her friends and her daughter have moved away. Taking in homeless teenager Goldie gives her a new sense of purpose, until she learns the girl is on the run from a violent criminal family. With an unexpected pregnancy of her own to cope with, Gladys must stand up to gangsters as well as bombs.

Across the series, the real battles are fought not only on the factory floor but in cramped homes, dance halls and street corners, where friendship, love and small acts of bravery help these women survive the war.