Celebrations for the Woolworths Girls

Elaine Everest

WELCOME back to life in post-war Kent in the entertaining fortunes and misfortunes of Elaine Everest’s ‘family’ of devoted and dedicated store staff who have become like friends to an army of readers.

Celebrations for the Woolworths Girls is the remarkable ninth book in Everest’s wonderfully nostalgic Woolies series which has brought new life and love for the famous stores that once graced almost every high street in the country, and taken us through the trials, tribulations and triumphs of a group of hard-working women during the turbulent war years.

Set once again in Everest’s home town of Erith in Kent, where she briefly worked as a Woolworths girl, we join the Woolies girls as they leave behind the war years and move into a brave new world... one that is full of changes and challenges which will test them to the limit.

It's February 1952, the nation grieves the death of King George VI and with a new monarch about to ascend the throne, the Woolworths girls face a very different world. At the Erith store, there is a new temporary manager and Sarah is getting more than a little concerned by problems he seems to be creating. The whole mess is enough to make her want to resign.

Meanwhile, Ruby is extremely worried about her friend Vera, and with illness causing a problem from her past to come flooding back, Vera knows it’s going to take a lot of strength and willpower to do what needs to be done. 

Then there is Freda, looking forward to the arrival of her first child but sick with worry that her Tony won’t have returned home in time for the birth. As Coronation Day for young Queen Elizabeth ll approaches, the girls from Woolworths celebrate friendship, family and overcoming anything that life can throw at them... Everest (pictured left) grew up listening to stories about the old Saxon town of Erith, which nestles south of the River Thames, and her love and knowledge of the people who live in this corner of the country shines through in these absorbing and nostalgic books.

Brimming with authentic historical and social history, an enchanting mix of drama, romance, friendship and family, lots of twists and turns, and the author’s storytelling magic, this new chapter for the irrepressible Woolworths Girls is the perfect escape for winter reading.
(Pan, paperback, £7.99)