Wartime at Woolworths

This is the third full length book (&amp; the fourth book in total) in the hugely popular Woolworths Girls series. The first full length book is called ‘The Woolworths Girls’ was released on 05/05/2016, a novella called ‘Carols At Woolworths’ was released on 05/10/2017 and the second full length book is called ‘Christmas At Woolworths’ which was released on 02/11/2017. I have read and adored each and every one. ‘Wartime At Woolworths’ is no different and I absolutely loved it but more about that in a bit.<br />Where do I start with the lovely Woolworths ladies? That’s not meant in a bad way, far from it. It’s just choosing which one to start with. Maisie is what you might call a party girl with a heart of gold. She loves having fun but she also loves being a wife to her gorgeous sounding husband, David and a mother to her gorgeous little girl. She also loves her friends from Woolworths, her good friend Ruby and her extended family. Something happens, which means that Maisie has to open her heart and her house to two more children. She does this without a moment’s hesitation. Freda is another lovely girl who adores her friends, who have become like family to her and she adores her work at Woolworths and as a despatch rider for the Fire Service. She is estranged from her mother, for reasons which do become apparent. Although Freda no longer sees her mother, it doesn’t mean that she has forgotten her. Sarah is the wife of Alan, who is currently somewhere abroad fighting the enemy and the mother of an adorable sounding little girl. She misses her husband dearly but she understands that he has to do his duty. She can’t wait for the war to be over, for Alan to be home and for her little family to be together again. Maybe then they can work on having a sibling for their daughter. Sarah is the unofficial right hand woman for Betty Billington, who is the manager of Woolworths in Erith. There are dark times ahead for Sarah and her little family. Betty Billington is another character that I took to and loved. She is a more mature lady, who has found love and happiness perhaps a bit later than she would have liked. She is married to a widower and step mother to two children, who initially cause some problems for her. Betty discovers what is behind their bad behaviour and tries to find a resolution. As much as she loves her step children, Betty can’t help but hope that Mother Nature will be kind to her and bless her with a child of her own. I was so keeping my fingers crossed for her. I can’t let myself finish the part on characters without mentioning Ruby, who really is like a Mother Hen. She is always ready with a cup of tea, a friendly ear and some wise advice. On occasion, Ruby gets involved and does what she can to sort out tricky situations. Ruby also has an admirer in Bob, who is desperate to marry her but she feels that she will be betraying her Eddie, who sadly died a while ago. Will Maisie make peace with her family? Will Maisie cope with the extra additions to her family? Will Freda reunite with her mother? What dark times are on the horizon for Sarah? Will Betty get her dearest wish? Will Ruby finally say yes to Bob? Well for the answers to those questions and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you. Believe you me, you will not regret it.<br />To say that this book is seriously addictive reading has to be the understatement of the year. I was hooked on the book from the moment I opened the front cover and the book held me under its spell until the moment I closed the back cover. The writing style is such that you can’t fail to be drawn into the story and reading this book really does feel like reuniting with old friends. I even felt as though I had clocked on for a shift with the girls so to speak. Whilst reading this book, the time and the page numbers flew past in a blur and before I knew what was happening I had finished the book, which I was so disappointed about. ‘Wartime At Woolworths’ is one of those books that will take you on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride. There were several times when I wanted to shout, cheer, argue, cry, smile and laugh in equal measure. There were also times when I wanted to jump inside the pages of this book to remonstrate with certain characters or to slap some of them around the face with a wet flip flop or in some cases, a punch to the face for the way that they treated my friends- the Woolworths Girls and their families. There was only one bad thing about this book and that was the fact that the book had to end. I was enjoying it so much that I just wanted it to continue on and on and on.<br />I simply can’t recommend this book, this series and this author highly enough. Elaine Everest creates series’ that will keep you riveted, will make you feel nostalgic and will take you away from real life for a while. This series certainly brings back memories of Woolworths for me. In my case my memories mainly centre on the Pick &amp; Mix department, which I was very familiar with. This book also brought back memories of my late father. As a teenager, he used to work at Woolworths in Durham city centre and would often talk about what he did whilst he was working there. The Woolworths Girls series is just crying out for television adaptation and I am sure that it would be a huge success. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a well deserved 5* out of 5* although I would have awarded it more stars if I could have because I really did love this book.

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/my-review-of-wartime-at-woolworths-by-elaine-everest-elaineeverest-wartimeatwoolworths/">https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...</a><br /><br />I really enjoyed this book, the writing style was great and I felt transported back in time the more I read - this is such a great read!!<br /><br />I loved the characters and the plot was great, it didn't take me long to read at all as I flew through the pages and it was great to catch up with Sarah, Freda and Maisie and the gang from the Erith Woolworths store!<br /><br />Five stars from me!! A very enjoyable read and excellent for any fans of historical fiction!

Most of my followers will know I have a soft spot in my heart for the Woolworth girls. I have read all of the series and waited with baited breath to get to this one. Wartime at Woolworths gave me the opportunity to catch up with all the previous characters again. They all have hectic lives especially now the war has added further problems but they always stick together and take care of one another.<br /><br />I love the way the author portrays each and every character so the reader feels as though they know them. It is such a pleasure to be able to sit down and open the book realising within a few chapters nothing else is likely to get done that day because you are lured into their world and desperate to get all the gossip. It’s a bit like the olden days of leaning over the garden fence and nattering for hours to the neighbour.<br /><br />Life in Erith was quite tough during the war years but with Woolies at the centre of it the girls manage to cope with kids, marriage and general family life. I adore stories set during the war especially featuring day to day family ‘real’ life, while there can be some tough situations you just know they will all pull together in a bid to solve it.<br /><br />As I said I was looking forward to this book so much and obviously wanted a place on the blog tour as normal. It so happens I was in hospital for a long duration when Wartime at Woolworths was available to bloggers, when I got home I was extremely disappointed to find out the books had been sent out and the tour arranged. Then the lovely Elaine contacted me to see if I had recovered enough to read it and popped me on the end of the tour ‘because it wouldn’t be the same without me’. I was SO touched at this kind gesture. <br /><br />My advice if you want a great book that will give you all the feels within it’s pages and leave you wanting to get to know more about all the people involved is buy this book and if you haven’t got the previous in the series maybe pop those in your basket as well, Wartime can be read as a stand alone but why deprive yourself of the previous pleasure.<br /><br />I read and reviewed this voluntarily, my thanks go to the author and publisher.<br /><br />A marvellous well deserved 5 sparkly stars from me and a huge recommendation.

<strong>Another fantastic read</strong><br /><br />The story starts in March 1943,betty billington in charge of the erith store where we read new characters arriving in the book that have something to hide but betty is soon able to resolve that,nothing gets past betty and so we hear more about our Woolworth girls getting on with their lives with so much happening and cannot wait to see what this author brings us next as this book certainly had a bit of a cliffhanger of an ending. so enjoyed reading this one and look forward to more by this author

Loving this series, even if I have read it out of order!

Another great book from Elaine Everest on the lives of the girls that worked in Woolworths in Erith.<br />The characters are all such lovely people. The book ended leaving a follow up which I am glad to say that another is in the pipeline and am looking forward to reading.<br />The Wooldworth series are nice enjoyable reads which I personally would recommend for easy reading. So it's well done Elaine.

It has only been a few months since I reviewed Elaine’s last novel, Christmas at Woolworths, but here she is again with another wonderful book in the series that takes us instantly back to 1940s Kent and the girls who work in the Woolworths store in Erith. For anyone who has read the earlier books, Sarah, Freda and Maisie will be very familiar characters by now, and the ups and downs of their daily lives and that of their friends and family can’t help but enthral. Of course, the book can be read as a stand-alone novel but it’s so much nicer to start at the beginning (with The Woolworths Girls) and watch the girls’ friendship develop from the moment they first meet in 1938.<br /><br />The story has now reached 1943, with perilous journeys being undertaken, bombs falling, husbands and brothers away fighting, some shady criminal business going on and sadly, as is to be expected in a wartime setting, a smattering of death and destruction too. But, as always, there is that sense of warmth and closeness the characters so clearly feel for each other, that binds them together and gives them strength whatever life throws at them, so there are lots of uplifting moments too, with romance, reunions, a wedding and new babies to look forward to along the way.<br /><br />Elaine’s research shines through. The disasters that happen in the book, at the entrance to a station and at a neighbouring Woolworths store, really did happen, and we are taken there, right into the heart of the panic and heartbreak. What happened in maternity homes for young unmarried mothers; altering clothes to make wedding and bridesmaid dresses; young children being taken in when their own families were lost or killed; women signing up for war work in the fire service or on the railways… it’s all here. And through it all, the Woolworths store stands at the heart of the action, selling everything from vegetables to blankets to pots and pans, its staff managing to keep the doors open and the customers happy, come what may. <br /><br />For anyone who has lived through the war, has ever worked in a Woolworths store, or just enjoys a good old-fashioned feel-good and very nostalgic saga, this is the book for you!<br />

Firstly, HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY ELAINE!!!<br /><br />This is the book I’ve been looking most forward to since finishing Christmas at Woolworths and it most certainly didn’t disappoint. This is the third full length novel but fourth novel to this series.<br /><br />In this book, we’re back with Sarah, Maisie and Freda (otherwise known as The Woolworths girls), these girls aren’t just characters to me, they’re lifelong friends.<br /><br />This book sees the girls separated, Maisie wants to find the family she left behind, Freda heads back to Birmingham to the life she left behind. I really felt for these two, because of the tragedy of their situations and the outcomes.<br /><br />Sarah also experiences these dark days but not so much in the way Maisie and Freda have. By the end of the book, I really felt I wanted to have a good old cry for all three girls.<br /><br />Wartime at Woolworths is a book I absolutely devoured cover to cover. It was impossible to put down, once I was back with these characters, I became immersed in the story, their situations etc…<br /><br />This is a book I HIGHLY recommend to all wartime saga fans.

<strong>Woolworths girls </strong><br /><br />Reading this book is like welcoming an old friend back I love the characters they all have something going on in there life's cant wait for the next book 5 STARS for a wonderful read .

Wartime at Woolworths by Elaine Everest is book three in the series which follows a group of women who work at or are connected to the Woolworths store in Erith during World War Two. By now I feel I know all the various characters fairly well and as Christmas at Woolworths was only published just before Christmas the recent goings on were fairly fresh in my mind. For those new to the series this book is easily read as a standalone novel as all the various back stories and events are seamlessly woven into the new story. I think this has been the best book so far, I did enjoy the book at Christmas but it wasn't my favourite, whereas here I felt the story really moved on and all the setting up that had taken place in the previous books began to bore fruit. Some storylines were finally put to bed as I think some elements of the overall story had dragged in the past. Therefore this allowed new little plots to begin to emerge and I thought it has now helped the story became fresh and interesting once again as at times in my mind it had become quite stale and repetitive.<br /><br />The brief prologue opens in 1944. The war that has been raging on for the last five years seems never ending and the entire world is continuing to suffer on a daily basis. Betty Billington, manageress of the Erith branch of Woolworths. is sitting in her office chatting to friend and fellow co-worker Sarah Gilbert. Sarah's husband Alan whom she met at Woolworths and married on the day war was declared is away fighting but with the help of her friends and family she is bringing up her daughter Georgina and is now pregnant with baby number two. Betty and Sarah's relationship has developed more into a family/friend relationship rather than that of boss and worker. They and their many friends and relatives are always there for each other through thick and thin and through all the troubles and pressures that come with the war.<br /><br />Their peaceful conversation is interrupted as news filters through that the Woolworths at New Cross has been bombed. Unfortunately this will have a major significance much later on in the story. The prologue ends there and we are taken back to March 1943. The last time this happened, I found the abrupt ending to the prologue, particularity leaving it on a cliffhanger and then going back a year or two to begin the story proper, very unsettling and disjointed as I was trying to piece things together. This time I was more prepared for it and I knew that the book would lead up to the events in the prologue so I was eager to see how things would connect back to the first few pages.<br /><br />The first few chapters were like a catch up with old friends and it was an easy way to brush up on certain aspects of every characters ongoing storylines. Maisie is Sarah's best friend and one of those people who always seem to be so glamorous, elegant and put together despite the rations and clothing shortages. She is married to David who appears to have a very important job that we never hear much about but unlike some of the others she doesn't have the worry of him being away fighting. Maisie is enjoying her baby, Ruby, and she feels she can always call at number thirteen Alexandra Road – the home of Ruby Caselton, Sarah's grandmother, for a cup of tea and a catch up.<br /><br />Beneath all the veneer that Maisie likes to portray is a person who likes to keep her past to herself and not let on just how tough her childhood really was. She fears if the truth does emerge that her marriage to David would be over in an instant. As readers we had never gotten to hear of her background until now and it was very interesting to see Maisie venture down a path with Freda, one that is necessary but will bring about life changing circumstances. Confronting the past will help her move forward but a tragic incident will help show Maisie's caring, selfless side as she firmly steps up to the plate when needed. The incident that occurs I had read about previously in some family sagas set during WW2 and it was dealt with such sensitivity, tact and honesty here and packed full of emotion.<br /><br />I was glad to see that every character that I read about previously did feature again. There are quite a few to keep track of but it is good to see all included as sometimes I feel in wartime series that some characters can dominate over others leaving characters that deserve a good storyline very much out in the cold. I had thought previously that Freda needed to step into the spotlight a bit more and again as with Maisie, it was time for Freda to confront her past and put some demons to rest. Freda rents a room from Ruby and as well as working in Woolworths also volunteers as a dispatch rider in the Auxillary Fire Service. It took a lot for Freda to respond to a cry of help from her past but she did prove that family bonds and ties no matter how much hurt and pain one has been through will always exist and that you should always support those when they need it the most.<br /><br />Ruby Caselton, is perhaps my favourite character with Betty coming a close second. Ruby is the matriarch of the series and is a mother to anyone who graces her doorstep. She always offers sound advice and has just the right words to use to offer comfort and solace to those who need it. She never seems to rest or even the word no does not seem evident in her vocabulary. I suppose keeping busy everyday caring for various children, renting out her rooms, helping anyone who arrives and just the genuine friendship and camaraderie that exists between herself Maisie, Freda, Sarah, Betty and Gwyneth is what gets her through the days of the war.<br /><br />I really don't think that she would want it any other way. I don't think I would have been as supportive to neighbour, Vera Munro, with her sharp tongue and bad words for everybody. But now I thought her story line showed a much more softer and vulnerable side to her personality and the way that Ruby worked around Vera and her problem was a masterclass in showing how brilliant Ruby really was. I did think though leaving good old Bob hanging and not setting a date or even confirming if they were to marry was just stringing him a long a bit. I think if Bob had disappeared from her life she would have missed him incredibly. The resolution to this aspect of the storyline was bittersweet and beautiful.<br /><br />As I reflect on Wartime at Woolworths, there really was an awful lot that did happen throughout this story and I think that's what made me enjoy it more so than the previous offering. Nothing much seemed to happen when we last met the women but here I was rapidly turning the pages as I became engrossed in everything that was happening. So much so that I flew through the book in two sittings. This series really does show that women were in the backbone of British society at a time when so many men were away fighting. That life took on a whole new perspective for everybody and I think they sensed that once war was finally over that they would never go back to the way things were pre 1939. I think Betty is a prime example of this. I thought she was strict, stern and dare I say it even cold hearted when we first met her but now to me she seems like a butterfly emerging transformed from its chrysalis. She has found happiness in her marriage to Douglas and just seems more amiable and approachable in general.<br /><br />Sarah and co trust her now and can confide in her even though she is their boss. Her efficiency with regard to all aspects of her life serves her well in work but at home she has let some things slip through the cracks. I thoroughly enjoyed her continuing storyline, both in terms of her relationship with her stepdaughters and how the arrival of a new couple to Alexandra Road have a bearing on other major goings on. As for that delightful little snippet towards the end boy is it well deserved and earned.<br /><br />Wartime at Woolworths offered so much to the reader, I had worried that I was going off the series and not enjoying it as much as I should have been but this new book thankfully quashed all those fears. There are testing times for everyone connected to Woolworths and I loved how the author shows the harsh realities of the time and is not afraid to shy away from the feelings of grief, sadness, loneliness and anger that did make their presence known at the time. But this was nicely balanced with moments of happiness, exuberance and joy and demonstrated that everyone had to take the opportunity to grab the good times when they came by during the war as they were very much few and far between. I loved the ending of the book and believe it set things up nicely for the next book, A Gift from Woolworths, which I hope will be with us before the end of the year. I hope this book will bring new readers to the Woolworths story and I do think it will delight and satisfy those who have been with Sarah and the girls right from the very beginning.<br />