The research with regard to historical detail comes through clearly and the dialogue brings the characters to life; the writing is both poignant and humorous – the latter especially where Vee is involved. She is quite a character and although she has clearly looked after Noel, (although at times it does seem like the other way around!) she doesn’t come over as a natural Mother Earth person. If an opportunity comes her way, she will take it. If Old Baggage was more companion to Crooked Heart than sequel, V for Victory unites the two stories. The characters of Heart are now living in the house which was so much the focus of Baggage. Mattie may be no longer physically present but even the reader can feel she is still very much there in spirit. Indeed, there are traces of sadness throughout the book for those absent friends from previous books. When a certain someone does make a reappearance, I got genuinely teary. But again, this is not a sad book. It is full of love. It's about finding people who will love you fiercely and never give up. And reading this final chapter to the tale conjures up the same feeling of satisfaction as when one slots the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle into place.

Initially, I took the moral high ground when confronted with Vee's scams. But, my opinion rapidly changed as I got to know Vee and Noel. I found myself soundly in their corner - and hoping they could scam the scammers. Evans nicely explores right and wrong through many characters and situations in Crooked Heart. And by the end, it's impossible to say that a little bit of wrong isn't a little bit right. Moving, funny and the most satisfying of reads, Old Baggage is a delight from start to finish.’ The Independent

Old Baggage is a gloriously entertaining and deeply moving novel about what courageous women do when society does not afford them a role’ Sunday Express Four years after Crooked Heart and a good decade or so after Old Baggage, the year is 1944 and Noel and Vee are trying to avoid the V2s and scrape a living from keeping lodgers. Vee is still posing as Noel's Aunt Margery but after witnessing a road accident and being summoned to court, the game just might be up. The end of the war may be in sight but victory feels a long way away.

I have read and loved two books by Lisa’s Evans, Crooked Heart and Old Baggage, and V for Victory is the stunning follow-up to these two books. You can read it on its own, but it’s so special to read it after the other two because of the richly drawn characters. The book focuses on what life was like towards the end of the war when there was still a lot of danger but maybe a glimpse of hope that everything would end soon. It was incredibly interesting to see what day to day life was like and to learn, through Winnie, what the role of a warden entailed. I thought this was really vividly described and helped me picture the scene and the characters in my mind. I often felt like I was inside the book, living everything alongside the characters. I love books that speak to the human condition - life, love, death and everything that comes in between. Even more poignant in wartimes. Evans easily captures all of the above.

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I appreciate the theme of this book. Who benefits from war and can benefiting from war be moral? Most people would first think about major war profiteers; for instance, large companies that make and supply arms, tanks, planes, anything used for fighting. Not Evans. She writes about the minor war profiteers, the small time swindlers trying to make a bit of extra cash. This is an interesting idea but the execution of it in this book just didn't work for me. The characters were well-drawn but they were all a bit too silly. This reminds me of watching British comedy shows from Monte Python to Absolutely Fabulous. Everyone in the room with me is laughing except for me. Same with this book. I didn't laugh when I knew I was supposed to laugh, I wasn't charmed when I was supposed to be charmed. Perhaps the cold Colorado winter has frozen my heart. Noel is already adrift without family ties, when he lands on the doorstep of Vera (Vee) Sedge, a woman with a full house but an empty life. Vee cares for both her mother, a mute who spends her days tethered to the wireless, and her adult son, who can't seem to keep a legitimate job to contribute to the family's welfare. Enter Noel, a precocious and gifted 10-year-old, still grieving the loss of his godmother, Mattie. It is obvious that Noel and Vee's lives are destined to become intertwined, though the route the author takes is neither direct nor engaging.

As far as everybody else is concerned, Vee is known as Mrs Margery Overs. The reasons why, we discover later on. Noel also has a complicated past, some of which it seems was covered in a previous book – this is one time where I wished I had read the others.I wasn’t at all surprised to find out that Donald’s absences had come about because, like his mother, he was scheming to make money from the war. His plans were much more dangerous than hers, and when Noel found himself out of his depth and in serious trouble it was Donald’s fault. Vee wanted to do the right thing, but she knew that there would be a price, and that scared her. There are lots of recently published books that are set during World War II, it would be easy to say that the subject has been done to death, and then, just when you don't expect it, you come across a story like Crooked Heart. This is a story that will pull the heartstrings with it's central character of Noel and his temporary mother Vera. Two characters who are original, and quirky and completely fabulous creations. Their story is like no other, it's charming and witty and will make you smile. Oh, I'm telling you right up front that Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans is going to be one of my top reads for 2015! Because while Mattie may be an old baggage, there are also a couple of nasty pieces of baggage who are deliberately, or not so deliberately, undermining her efforts. And her sense of self is what suffers along the way. At first, this seemed to be a simple story about someone whose glory days were long behind them – and that same person’s inability to cope with that fact. But it’s not nearly that simple.