The Outcast Girls: A Completely Heartbreaking and Gripping World War 2 Historical Novel

This is Dickson's second novel I have read. The Orphan Sisters was better. There are quite a few typos in this book, and it is distracting.Frieda obviously was suffering from anorexia after having been teased that she was fat and from the turmoil of wondering about her Jewish family in war torn Berlin. She escaped prosecution and persecution by going to the countryside to live with a woman who ran the post office. She befriended Sandra, an orphan, who was fired from servitude with a rich family. Duncan, the son of the rich family, attacked Sandra, and the matron of the house fired her, blaming her for Duncan's indiscretions. Sandra went to live with Olive, another servant in the household. Wanting to find more for her life, she joined the Land Girls and ended up in the same small town as Frieda. Frieda also became a Land Girl, and the two of them made fast friends.The girls felt like misfits and were able to commiserate in their misery and self-prescribed inadequacies together. Both ended up in relationships that were bad for them with men who were less than honest. They were both extremely young, and their fickleness showed as Frieda was "in love" with an Italian POW who worked on the same farm as her. Then she quickly forgot him after another LG took up with him, and Frieds was attracted to another boy on the farm. I guess when you're 15 or 16, you can be fickle.Sandra fell for an American soldier, Brad, with secrets of his own. In the meanwhile, she had been going to see the curate, Matthew, at the church for reading lessons. She was illiterate, never having been taught to read or write in the orphanage. All along there was an attraction between the two, which each found difficult to do anything about since there were misunderstandings and the American soldier in the picture.I found the girls' Land Girl work fascinating. They worked hard for little.It ended in a very abrupt manner. I turned the page, and it was finished. Throughout the book, the author tried to tie in all the things Frieda and Sandra had in common, and she tried to end the book the same way, but it just didn't work for me. It needed a few more chapters to wrap things up more carefully.All in all, it was an okay book. It needs some polishing and an editor with a good eye. I found it lacking in depth. I liked the characters for the most part, but things fell a little flat.

This book is for teenagers to old folks! Excellent tale of the effects of war on youth. Young girls put to work running farms and growing crops to feed the nation while the men are at war. Young females coming of age and building friendships while working the farms.

Shirley Dickson engrossing novel brings two young girls alive, pulling the reader into their gripping experiences during WWII. This author knows how tobring the story deep and thoughtful meaning.

Sandra and Frieda are without family in England when they meet. Frieda is a Jew whose parents sent her and her younger brother out of Germany to England. However, Kurt jumped ship before it left and Frieda lost touch with him and her parents for years. Sandra and her brother had been in an orphanage but when they left, she became a maid in for a well to do family. Her brother joined the military so she was mostly alone except for the friendship of the cook. The son in the family where she worked was trying to molest her when his Mother discovered them and dismissed Sandra. She had no place to go so the cook took her in. Later, both girls joined the Land Girls and worked on farms to help supply food for those that had no place to grow them. The girls became friends amost like sisters. Frieda was the younger one with more knowledge while Sandra the older one hadn't been taught to read at the orphanage and was treated as an inferior there. The book tells about their experiences there and their first love. That didn't last, but they each found someone else. I wanted to read out that turned out, but the book ended. That was disappointing.

Once I have a great read and a refund for a book I am keeping, reading & sharing with friends. Maybe Amazon just thinks I need free books.

Two young women: one a German Jew, who was sent to England before the war; the other an English girl, abandoned by her father to an orphanage and later abused as a servant in a uppity household, meet and bond in the English countryside during World War II. Their backgrounds have similar issues: concerns about their families, concerns about fitting in, concerns about adjusting to their environment. And so they are drawn to each other and try to help each other. There is plenty to keep them busy including their first experience with disappointed first love. But in the end, they discover much more, that rather than just being acquaintances, they have become sisters.

What a page-turner this beautifully written, heart-wrenching story is. Frieda and her brother Kurt are living in Berlin in 1938 when their parents send them to an orphanage in England to be safe. As the boat gets ready to leave the port, Kurt jumps off and runs. Frieda go to the orphanage by herself and is eventually adopted by a woman she calls Aunty Doris. England, 1937, 15-year-old Sandra is released from an orphanage to begin working as a housemaid. Her brother Alf joins the service. Frieda gets fired from her job and joins the Land Army where young girls are hired to work as farmhands. It is there that she meets Frieda and they become friends. This is a real tug-at-your heartstrings book as the two girls grow and learn about life while becoming close friends and confidants. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this outstanding book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book very much

I was completely hooked from the first couple of pages. This is the third book I have read by this wonderful author. 1939 Germany 11 year old Frieda boarded a ship with her little brother Kurt. Their parents are worried because they are Jewish and things are getting very bad for them, Synagogues set alight people being murdered., When they board the ship, Frieda Is on the deck but , Kurt jumps back onto land and escapes. So Frieda ends up in England complete.y alone . Back in England Sandra who is 17 yrs old and her younger brother Alf are released from the Blakely Orphanage. War breaks out and Alf is sent to fly bombers . 1943 Sandra and Frieda’s paths cross when the6 both join the Land Army and end up in The same village. This is a wonderful novel and you can almost sense what it was like in War time Britain. This is the third book I have read and am completely in love with this very talented author’s novels. i highly recommend this and all her books, they gave be so much enjoyment. Thank you Shirley it was just a brilliant story. Cannot wait to read another one .

I was really looking forward to reading Shirley Dickson's new book and i can honestly say i loved it.Being raised in an Orphanage with her brother Alf has been hard for Sandra but she had no idea it was going to get worse.Frieda a young German Jew is on her way to England to safety but she is still shocked that her brother Kurt jumped ship before it left port,alone and scared Freida is taken in by a lovely caring lady she calls Aunty Doris.Sandra has a hard life as housemaid but has a friend in the cook but things come to a head one night during an air raid.With no-where to go Sandra faces a bleak future untill Mrs Goodwin the cook takes her in.Both girls meet on the Nichols farm and form a close friendship that will help both of them through the aweful times ahead.I have loved reading The Outcast Girls and can highly recommend it 5*

This book takes up the story of Sandra Hudson from the Orphan sisters that i so enjoyed. along with german girl Frieda Sternberg as they both come together working during WW2 1943 on Nicols Farm in Leadburn near Hexham. Frieda in 1938 flee's Berlin, Sandra from an orphanage Blakeley South Shields, they both have family member's lost to them will they ever hear from them again? This was such an inspirational book to read for me, it will warm your heart, and both girl's share their past lives to each other, both feeling they don't belong but a comfort to be working together, The Outcast Girls are both hiding secret's unknown to anyone but both help each other overcome them. .a story of a bonded friendship that will bring tears to your eyes in places, i truly enjoyed every page. so well worth the stars, and loved it all to the end.

Loved it. Refreshing approach to this wartime read. The author does not overdo on descriptions which can often leave the reader skipping some of the pages. The lives of Sandra and Frieda are so very similarly intertwined. Each are living in their very own shadows, afraid that too much information will somehow alter the path of life in which they believe is mapped out for them. Friendship, trust and belief eventually win them through. A sincerely compelling read.

Thoroughly enjoyed this story, compelling from start to finish it was a late night for me because I really couldn't put it down.I loved Sandra's transformation and my heart broke for Frieda, my only criticism is that it ended very suddenly when I feel that we could have learned more about how their stories wrapped up? Almost as if there should have been a sequel.Other than that, highly recommended.