Title: The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club
Author:  Helen Simonson   
Genre:   Historical fiction     
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 

It is the summer of 1919 and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after she rescues the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy Wirrall, from a social faux pas.

Poppy wears trousers, operates a taxi and delivery service to employ local women, and runs a ladies’ motorcycle club (to which she plans to add flying lessons). She and her friends enthusiastically welcome Constance into their circle. And then there is Harris, Poppy’s recalcitrant but handsome brother—a fighter pilot recently wounded in battle—who warms in Constance’s presence. But things are more complicated than they seem in this sunny pocket of English high society. As the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, Constance and the women of the club are forced to confront the fact that the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.

This was so much fun to read! I immediately liked Constance and couldn’t wait to find out what was in store for her. I was invested in all the secondary characters, too. Poppy was a lot of fun, and poor Harris had me rooting for him to overcome his trauma and grief. This was an excellent historical fiction read, and I was engrossed from the beginning.

Helen Simonson is a bestselling author. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House in exchange for an honest review.)

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