*Review* Clementine's Winter (Novel)

 Clementine's Winter

Clementine Harper is 12 and learning to tap dance at Madame Pearl's Stage School in Finchley when war breaks out. As the air raids start to hit London, she and her two younger brothers, Ronnie and Ernie, are evacuated. Arriving in a tiny Devon village, they're sent to live with an eccentric widow who lives in a drafty mansion in the middle of wintry woods. Clementine is thrilled to meet another fish out of water - Giesele, a sophisticated Jewish girl, who has escaped from Nazi Germany and they become soul mates immediately. Giesele's parents are still in hiding in Berlin and her sister Klara has gone missing. If only they could help somehow. The girls are enlisted by the local Girl Guides who, they soon find out, are training to do SO much more than bake cakes and tie knots. They're asked to help put on a Christmas show for the American soldiers at the military base nearby. But the show is a cover for a very secret mission, and the girls' lives are soon filled with mystery and adventure.
-A Girl for All Time

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Here is a guest review by Amber Banister of Clementine's book, Clementine's Winter.

I read 'Clementine's Winter' by Sandra Goldbacher about a month ago. For those not familiar, Clementine is the third doll in the family line from A Girl for All Time. Clementine is from the 1940's and she is 12 years old when she has to be evacuated to the London Countryside due to the Air Raids from WWII. The story starts with Clementine and her two younger brother's on a train ride from London to Devon Village. They are the last to be taken by a family because Clem is determined not to split them up. At school, Clementine makes an unlikely friend in Giesele, who is a German Jew who barely made it out of Berlin on a kindertransport. Giesele and her sister had been separated so Giesele is all alone. The two girls become fast friends. 

Clem turns 13 and inherits the Marchmont Trunk, which has been handed down since Matilda, Your Tudor Girl, and the first doll in this story line. The family history about the trunk, is all that inherit it must add something of importance inside for the next generation. Clem is unsure what she will be able to add or if anything in her life is that important. Soon the girls are given a mission by the girl guides and American GIs to try and find a German spy at a nearby base, after intelligence shows there is a spy in the area. After all who would suspect children?

This book is very well written. All three books available at this time are well written and have a good story line. Matilda's Secret was my favorite cause it's hard to beat Henry the VIII's court. After reading 'Clementine's Winter' I believe it's my new favorite because I have younger children and I can read this book to them sooner. The book cover feels like velvet. I love it and think it's super nice and works well with the artwork.

This book is also set in the 1940s WWII which is one of my favorite time periods since it shows how everyone came together to help in a time of need, something that you really don't see anymore. I'm a huge Gone With the Wind fan and loved when in this book it says Mr. Carter favors Clark Gable. I won't go into anymore detail because this book is a mystery with a twist ending. If you haven't bought this book yet get over to A Girl for All Time® and order away!

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You can see reviews of Clementine and her Land Girl Outfit.