#BookReview ‘Wedding Bells For Woolworths’ by Elaine Everest

About the book…

July 1947. Britain is still gripped by rationing, even as the excitement of Princess Elizabeth’s engagement sweeps the nation. In the Woolworths’ canteen, Freda is still dreaming of meeting her own Prince Charming. So far she’s been unlucky in love. When she has an accident on her motorbike, knocking a cyclist off his bicycle, it seems bad luck is still following her around. Anthony is not only a fellow Woolworths employee but was an Olympic hopeful. Will his injured leg heal in time for him to compete? Can he ever forgive Freda?

Sarah’s idyllic family life is under threat with worries about her husband, Alan. Does he still love her?

The friends must rally round to face some of the toughest challenges of their lives together. And although they experience loss, hardship and shocks along the way, love is on the horizon for the Woolworths girls . . .

Many thanks to Megan from ed pr for the blogtour invite, and my gifted review copy of ‘Wedding Bells for Woolworths’, the fifth in the bestselling series from Elaine Everest, available now.

This is the 4th book in the series, set in the town of Erith, featuring Sarah, Maisie and Freda, and in this tale, Freda and her quest for the perfect romance takes center stage.

One of my main aims for this year was to read outside my comfort zone-as such, historical fiction is not one of my normal genres so I was a bit hesitant to read this , but found it a charming and engaging book. For one with such a bright and cheery cover, Elaine is not afraid to take things seriously as she begins the book with the funeral of an unnamed character.

As the story progesses, to what happened before, it is easy to gain an emotional attachment to the inhabitants of Erith, and begin to panic that one of your favourites might have the Grim reaper lurking in the background!
It’s definitely nostalgic, in looking back at a time when Britain was still recovering from the effects of World War 2, rationing was still in place, for example, but with the forthcoming wedding of Princess Elizabeth, all the girls are aflutter for the biggest celebration the country has seen since the coronation-and all are in desperate need of a pick me up.

What is so clever about ‘Wedding Bells..’ is the warmth and kindness of it’s characters, and how it makes something huge resonate on a local level. The marriage of Elizabeth has Freda wondering if she will ever find her prince…motorcycle mad at a time when this would have been thought unladylike, she finds herself falling for her co-worker, Anthony. But due to an accident when rushing away from a confrontation with a local money lender, she potentially not only dashes his chances of competing at the Olympics, but also her chances at love. Will either of them be able to make their dreams come true? Will Freda be able to keep the secret she unwittingly stumbled upon from her best friend? With charm and a sense of realism untempered by mawkish or sentimentality, Elaine creates a gripping tale.

Not afraid to address the issues of the day-attitudes towards immigrants, racism and sexism- Elaine makes this nostalgia trip resonant, warm and witty. She uses cliffhanger chapter endings to keep you reading page after page, creates such a warm, welcoming setting in the shop and harks back to a by-gone era whilst noting that several soicetal issues are still prevalent today.

My overall feeling after finishing was to want to look out for other books in this series, I thoroughly enjoyed being taken away to another place in time. The period details show a great deal of historical research was undertaken and it reminds you that Woolworths really was the center of the town for so many reasons. It was the heart of our town, one that we all completely adored, everyone knew someone who worked there and it’s quality and sense of community was second to none. And it is still much missed and reminisced about, all these years after it was closed!Very grateful to Megan for the chance to read a book I might not have seen on my own-the perils of living in a town with no bookshop!

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.

Twitter @ElaineEverest @panmacmillan @ed_pr

Links-https://www.elaineeverest.com/