Just Another Girl on the Road

By: S. Kensington

Narrated by: Gill Mills

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Summer 1944: Stranded behind enemy lines in France, eighteen-year-old Katrinka Badeau escapes German deserters with the help of Major Willoughby Nye. Once an employee on her father’s merchant ship, Nye is now part of an undercover Jedburgh operation, working for the Allies. When he offers her a job on his team, she accepts.

Her work throws her together with Sergeant Wolfe Farr, the team’s tough-talking radio operator, and they embark on an intense love affair. But Katrinka is not prepared to accept Wolfe’s plans for the future. And her love for Nye, which has evolved from an adolescent crush to that of a young woman, still endures.

With the liberation of France, both men are sent to the Far East. Realising what she has lost, Katrinka joins a small entertainment troupe, and sets out on an arduous journey around the world to find Wolfe. But when the three are finally reunited, which love will withstand the test of time?

©2019 S. Kensington (P)2024 S. Kensington

Critic reviews

"Difficult history, abuse, war and love combine in this emotional examination of the end of World War II… A deep, evocative read …inventive, finely-woven and captivating."–IndieReader

"Well-plotted and often exciting… An informed, imaginative tale that adds some romance to a well-researched war story."–Kirkus Reviews

exciting and emotionally engaging.

From the first startling scene to the resolutions of the final chapters, “Just Another Girl on the Road” is a masterfully and tightly crafted novel. The storyline and pacing never slacken. Every detail contributes organically to the whole.
The historic setting is so well researched and so graphically described that I could visualize some of the horrors of living in France during WWII and could imagine the terrors and hardships the characters must endure and struggle against just to survive. This novel focuses on the effects of war on ordinary people rather than on the battles, bombs and politics.
Although the characters are courageous, even heroic at times, they are also humanly flawed and carry deep scars from past traumas. They are so fully developed that I both cared for them and sometimes became annoyed by them. In a world at war, torn with hate and danger, these fictional men and women seek love and connection wherever they can. They each dream of an ideal “home”, a place to belong, after the war ends and life returns to normal. What does that mean for each of them, and will they find it?
In this audio version, Gill Mills adds another dimension to the characters, who are of several nationalities, with her expertise in consistently vocalizing the various accents and dialects. Her narration, even of very sensitive situations, maintains an honesty and impartiality that allows listeners to form their own impressions and interpretations in the way they would as readers.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes stories of action and adventure, who loves tales of complex relationships, or who enjoys a very well written book.