The Girls in Navy Blue

The Girls in Navy Blue
Alix Rickloff
Publication date: November 1, 2022 by William Morrow & Company 
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

Summary: A gripping and compelling dual timeline novel about three women who joined the Navy during WWI to become yeomanettes and the impact their choices have on one of their descendants in 1968.
1918 - America is at war with Germany, and, for the first time in history, the US Navy has allowed women to join up alongside the men. Ten thousand of them rush to do their part. German-American Marjory Kunwald enlists in the Navy to prove her patriotism. Suffragette Blanche Lawrence to prove that women are the equal of men. And shy preacher’s daughter Viv Weston in a desperate attempt to hide from the police. 
Even as the US military pours into France and the war heats up, the three yeomanettes find friendship and sisterhood within the Navy. But all their plans for the future are thrown into chaos when Viv’s dark past finally catches up with her.
1968 - Newly divorced and reeling from a personal tragedy, Peggy Whitby unexpectedly inherits her estranged great-aunt Blanche’s beach cottage outside Norfolk Virginia. But her fragile peace is rattled when she begins to receive mysterious postcards dated from 1918 when Blanche served as a Navy yeomanette. 
Curious to learn more about her mysterious aunt and uncover the truth behind the cryptic messages, Peggy is drawn deeper into the lives of the three young Navy girls. But her digging uncovers more than she bargains for, and, as past and present collide, Peggy must decide if finding out about her aunt is worth the risk of losing herself.

My thoughts: Rickloff packs so much historical content into this novel! With that being said none of it was forced. Every single element was perfectly combined into each character's story that it appeared seamless.

Blanche was the no-nonsense one of the girls. Her family owned the cottage where they found their refuge. She was a fierce advocate for suffrage and firmly entrenched in her belief that women were equal to men in all aspects. Blanche however had a secret.
Viv looked to the Navy for both a chance to hide and to get a fresh start. She was taken aback by the comradery she experienced with Blanche and the satisfaction she got from performing well at her job. Viv's past haunted her and tried to derail her life. Viv had a secret.
Marjory was embraced as American one day and considered the enemy the next. She wanted nothing more than to continue living the life she had built for herself. Marjory risked her life to convince others that she was as patriotic as anyone else.
Peggy was grieving. Inheriting the cottage was both the best, and the worst thing to happen to her. Peggy had to make the choice whether or not to embrace the new people in her life. She had to embrace a certain level of bravery to embark on the journey of discovering answers to the questions left by her great-aunt.
Fantastic read!

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.