The Wartime Lodging House: Book 1
Publication Date: October 21, 2025
London, 1940. Walking up the steps of the lodging house at No. 34 Hill Street in Mayfair, Grace Whelan is full of hope, despite the bombs raining down on London every night. But is this the fresh start she craves, or will the family she’s desperately running from catch up with her?
Nurse Grace Whelan’s Irish accent isn’t out of place on the hospital wards in the East End. But she hides it, and so much more, when her work takes her to the other side of the city. Her roommates at the lodging house and her potential beau, RAF pilot Owen, can never know the secrets she’s keeping about her family…
The three girls may share a room in the cosy lodgings, but they are very different. Jess is a country girl not used to the city, and Betony is adjusting to life without her aristocratic father’s money. But as they go through terrifying air raids and family heartbreak together, a sisterhood starts to form.
Until Grace’s criminal brother tracks her down, looking for money. And when it’s revealed she’s not the only one involved with Owen, the scandal threatens to tear the three apart for good.
Devastated, Grace is torn. Will she lose her new friends as quickly as she found them? Or can confessing all her secrets bring them closer together, as the war comes to their doorstep?
A heart-wrenching story full of love, loss and friendship during the darkest times. This wonderful new series is perfect for fans of Jean Grainger, Lisa Wingate and Diney Costeloe.
Navigating the Blitz summer of 1940 in London means ration books, air raids, and turmoil. For Grace Whelan, it’s an opportunity for her to escape her poverty-ridden past.
Author Natalie Meg Evans launches the first installment of a trilogy with The Irish Nurse at the Lodging House.
Forced to adopt a more English last name for an assignment caring for a titled woman with gout and a wicked temper, Grace finds life outside Whitechapel to be quite intriguing.
It’s not until she moves into a Mayfair lodging house and starts to enjoy freedom that her past comes crashing in. New friendships and even a blossoming romance are at risk.
The characters are well developed, illustrating the challenges brought by the upheaval of nightly bombings. There’s plenty of opportunity for more development in future installments.
The Irish Nurse at the Lodging House offers a fascinating peek into a young woman’s efforts for a new beginning during World War II.
Natalie Meg Evans has been an art student, actor, PR copywriter, book-keeper and bar tender but always wanted to write. A USA Today best-seller and RITA nominee, she is author of four published novels which follow the fortunes of strong-minded women during the 1930s and 40s. Fashion, manners and art are the glass through which her characters’ lives are viewed. Each novel is laced with passion, romance and desire. Mystery is never far away.
An avid absorber of history – for her sixth birthday she got a toy Arthurian castle with plastic knights – Natalie views historical fiction as theatre for the imagination. Her novels delve behind the scenes of a prestige industry: high fashion, millinery, theatre, wine making. Rich arenas for love and conflict. Most at home in the English countryside, Natalie lives in rural Suffolk. She has one son.
HI Amy thank you so much for reviewing The Irish Nurse, and for your stars! I’m glad you enjoyed it and you are right, there’s plenty of room for the characters to develop and grow. Books two and three are on their way. Wishing you loads of happy reading, Natalie Meg