When Sally Comes Marching Home - Richard Milton

World War II is finally over, the Allies have won the day, and Major Sally Honeychurch is coming home to a completely different world than the one she’s been living in for the past several years. Or is she?

Sally, a highly skilled British agent, spent much of the war in France behind enemy lines working with the French Resistance to slow down the progress of Hitler’s advancing army. There, her sex was an advantage because German soldiers found it impossible to believe that any woman was capable of doing them serious harm. By the time they figured out the truth, it was too late stop her. Now, however, Sally is back in London where, despite all she accomplished in France, she finds that her sex has turned into a huge career disadvantage because no one in the British military takes her seriously anymore. Instead of receiving the respect she has earned, Sally finds herself unceremoniously thrust back into civilian life to do the things that women of the day are expected to do.

But that is all about to change in a big way, and the powers that be are going to learn just how lucky they are that Sally did, in fact, come marching home. 

Richard Milton

Terrorists, whoever they may be, have managed to smuggle an atomic bomb into London and Sally has been called back into service by the Head of MI6 because she is one of the few people in the world who have actually seen such a bomb. If the terrorists are not identified, and the bomb located and disarmed in the next few days, hundreds of thousands of civilians will die. Even now, though, Sally is having to fight the prejudice of her male counterparts, men who much prefer that she sit at a desk studying files instead of searching the London streets with the rest of the team. If she is to have any chance of finding the bomb in time to save the city, Sally knows that she is going to have ignore every direct order that does not serve her purpose. If she fails, she could end up spending the rest of her life in prison. 

Sally Honeychurch is willing to take that chance.

Bottom Line: When Sally Comes Marching Home is a historical thriller that I expected to be a little over the top, one that would demand a complete suspension of disbelief if I were going enjoy it. And right until I finished the novel, that is exactly what I thought I was reading. (Not that I was unwilling to do exactly that.) Then I came to Richard Milton’s thirteen-page “Historical Note” explaining just how seriously such a threat was taken in post-war Britain, and how difficult it would have been at the time to stop anyone with the means to make it happen. I found from the note, too, that many of the main and secondary characters I had taken as complete fictional creations were actually based upon historical figures of the time. This one is fun – and eye-opening.

Review Copy courtesy of author and Bowater Books, Chichester, U.K.