Christmas at Woolworths by Elaine Everest

Even though there was a war on, the Woolworths girls brought Christmas cheer to their customers

Best friends Sarah, Maisie and Freda are brought together by their jobs at Woolworths. With their loved ones away on the front line, their bonds of friendship strengthen each day. Betty Billington is the manager at Woolworths, and a rock for the girls, having given up on love . . . Until a mysterious stranger turns up one day – could he reignite a spark in Betty?

As the year draws to a close, and Christmas approaches, the girls must rely on each other to navigate the dark days that lie ahead . . .

With so much change, can their friendship survive the war?

Title: Christmas at Woolworths

Author: Elaine Everest

Published By: Pan

Publication Date: 2nd November 2017

Links: UK: Amazon   US: Amazon

Our Review

An absolute delight to read.

Christmas at Woolworths follows on from the Woolworths girls and we get to find out what happens to Saran, Maisie and Freda who originally met at an interview for jobs in the popular store.
Along with the three friends we also get to revisit their lovely boss Betty and my favourite character Ruby Caselton who is Sarah's nan and the hugely matriarchal figure to the other characters.

Ruby loves a houseful of guests and treats Sarah's friends as though they were her own flesh and blood. If you were ever in a crisis then you would want Ruby to be around. I love how she makes food go round so many people too, she would give everything she had to make sure her loved ones were ok.

I think that using the iconic Woolworths store as the base for all of the goings on really touches the hearts of people who remember the stores being on practically every high street.
That nostalgia mixed with the innocence of the people in those bygone days provides a glimpse to a more wholesome time where people were respectful to each other and it's captured beautifully.

I loved the references to the war because although they were scary times the camaraderie of the neighbours really shone through and the people really cared about each other. It must have been awful never knowing whether your loved ones would return from the war or whether their house would be bombed.

A particularly favourite scene was of the ladies singing in the shelter, showing that great British stiff upper lip.

There were some new characters introduced in the book and they're secrets introduced a bit of intrigue to the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book about love and friendship in bygone days. Thanks to Elaine Everest and Pan Macmillan for the Arc which I have reviewed voluntarily.

Sincerely
Book Angel x

About the Author

Elaine Everest, author of Bestselling novel The Woolworths Girls and The Butlins Girls was born and brought up in North West Kent, where many of her books are set. She has been a freelance writer for twenty years and has written widely for women's magazines and national newspapers, with both short stories and features. Her non-fiction books for dog owners have been very popular and led to broadcasting on radio about our four legged friends. Elaine has been heard discussing many topics on radio from canine subjects to living with a husband under her feet when redundancy loomed.

When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write Place creative writing school at The Howard Venue in Hextable, Kent and has a long list of published students.

Elaine lives with her husband, Michael, and their Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Henry, in Swanley, Kent and is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Crime Writers Association, The Society of Women Writers & Journalists and The Society of Authors as well as Slimming World where she can be seen sitting in the naughty corner.