To Die but Once: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

Winspear always captures the essence of every scene and describes all the sequence of events with great realism. Always a complicated plot ingeniously solved. Maisie’s genuine sensitivity to the humanity of her characters is wonderful.

This segment of Maisie's story takes place before the beginning of government oversight of the products we purchase or child labor laws. It begins just before Britain declares war on Germany.As a result of their declaration of war, Britain is gearing up to fight Hitler's Nazi war machine by "calling up" all men capable of fighting (and some boys who lie about their ages). This book especially focuses on one boy whose parents own a pub and who suddenly quits making his calls home to them. He is not in the military but has somehow obtained work with a company that provides him with an exempt status - meaning he won't have to go to war as long as he works for that company.The company for which he works is painters (and decorators). They travel from military airfield to military airfield, painting the buildings with a fire retardant. It is his policy to call home every week but recently he has not seemed like himself and is suffering from pounding headaches.This is also the story of the son of Maisie's assistant, Billy Beale, who is with the British Expeditionary Forces across the English Channel in France and the son of Maisie's best friend, Priscilla Partridge, who has joined the RAF. If that's not enough, one of Priscilla's sons goes to stay with Maisie and then promptly disappears. Maisie figures out that he and a friend of his have taken a boat belonging to the friend's dad to help rescue some of the soldiers returning from France.All three of Priscilla's brothers were killed in WWI so she is beside herself with worry. Billy and his wife, who has had a series of mental health issues since the death of their daughter, are worried about their son since they are not sure if he is alive or dead. Of course, Maisie wants to help all three families.This book is based on real-life events from the author's family. She grew up hearing about them and has now based a book on them because so many children and young people lived this. This is an excellent story. I not only strongly recommend it, but I strongly recommend you read "About the Book" at the beginning of the story before starting the story.

the book arrived on time and in good condition.

Even though it’s fiction, for Jacqueline Winspear to weave what truly happened in her stories, makes it to understand them in a deeper way. The horror of war one doesn’t want to share (and so many people couldn’t), in a way need to be told in a different way, for us to get it what people/families went through.

I'm late to reading Winspear's work. I discovered Maisie Dobbs in Jan, and started with a book mid-series, read it, and was hooked. Then I got all the books I hadn't read yet and read them all so I was ready for this one. I'm in love with this series, and my thinking on 5-stars reviews is like this: I only give them to either books that I find of great literary importance (which are also to my taste) like Toni Morrison's work, or the work of Jeannette Winterson. But I also give 5 star reviews to books that I simply love by authors that I have an automatic "buy" for when they have a new book come out. Jaqueline Winspear is now on my mystery list (as is Phil Rickman and Barbara Hambly).These books are a rarity in my mind--really well told mysteries that also include phenomenal writing, excellent character development, and in this case, also excellent historical detail (which I why I also love Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series). I've always been fascinated by this time period as well, and Winspear captures this so well. I've learned a lot about the first world war from reading these series, and the times in between the war as well. Very often, reading one of the Maisie Dobbs books gets me interested enough to do research on things I didn't know much about (Dunkirk, etc) and this was no different. Characters are well-developed and I feel as if Maisie and her friends and family are old friends.Simply put, this is one of the best series of mysteries, particular historical mysteries, that I've ever read. (And I was worried when I started this book that perhaps I was coming in on the end of a series, but I'm happy to report that doesn't seem to be the case!)

Best series of books I have ever read. I’m 70 years old and I had no clue of what the Brits went through during WW1 and WW2. Amazing resolve of the Brits. Amazing grit and those foreigners who help fight prior to being committed by their country.

I have been a fan of Maisie Dobbs since the first book in the series was published and I always look forward to the next in the series. This one took off slowly for me, but things picked up as the book progressed. I am always interested in what prompted Ms. Winspear to write her novels. This time a postscript said that her father had died of a rare idiopathic blood disorder in 2014 (I think) that was possibly caused by exposure to chemicals in WWII. That may account for what seemed to me to be a deep vein of sadness that ran through this particular book in the series. But then, it was set in a sad and frightening time. Ms; Winspear excels in historical detail and I was very interested to learn more about living conditions for civilians during that time as well as civilian response to national emergencies like the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk.

I have now purchased all the currently published books and audiobook and am finding great pleasure in this author’s work. So refreshing to read a series that hasn’t been plagiarised and gives a sense of what life was like pre and post both World Wars. I’ve learned some really interesting bits of history and am about to commence book 15 with anticipation. I woukd highly recommend these books to anyone who enjoyed Foyles War on tv

I have read all the winspear novels as they follow a group of families from the end of the first war and all the problems that resulted from soldiers coming home with injuries both to body and mind. She weaves the main plots around the interaction of these people and their day to day lives. This novel comes at the heroic withdrawal from Dunkirk and the eminent threat of invasion. I hope that this is not the last novel as she has me wondering about all the families and their future.

This book was one of the best in this series so far - continue please .

I’ve loved every one of the Maisie Dobbs books and have now read the entire series (what will I do now?). Jacqueline Winspear is a fine story teller. She weaves such a gentle and poignant story of life in England during the early war years. Each book brings something different, yet maintains consistency about truth, integrity and respect. I love the strength of Maisie Dobbs and we could all learn something from her.

This is one of a series. I have enjoyed all of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs novels. This one did not disappoint. All of the people I have loaned these novels to have also found the books addictive! Enjoy!