In London, Annie and Rose stumble into jobs at the Lyceum Theatre. Being a dresser to capricious star Kitty Smythe wasn't exactly what Annie had in mind. But then the musical director, Matthew Harris, offers her singing lessons. And Annie starts to wonder – could this be her chance? Or is it all too good to be true?
With the threat of war in the air, everything is uncertain. Is there a place for hopes and dreams when so much is at stake?
From the author of the beloved Foyles Bookshop Girls series, The West End Girls is the first in a brand new series full of Elaine Roberts' trademark warmth. Perfect for fans of Daisy Styles and Rosie Hendry.
I have always meant to read the Foyles bookshop series but have never gotten around to it though they still sit in my ever growing TBR pile...lol So therefore THE WEST END GIRLS is the first Elaine Roberts book I have read and, as it is the first in a new series, I look forward to following the girls' stories. I am a huge fan of historical fiction sagas from about any era. I just love getting to know each of the characters and seeing how their stories pan out.
Worcestor 1914: Eighteen year old Annie Cradwell has a dream. Ever since her mother took her to the theatre as a girl she has wanted to be on the stage. With no training apart from singing in the church choir and her exceptional looks, Annie is determined to follow her dream to the bright lights of London. But her parents have their heart set on her marrying a local lad from a neighbouring farm and start a family.
Sam Spencer has already spoken with her father and gained his permission and her mother has packed a picnic lunch for their afternoon walk, and Annie is immediately suspicious. When he proposes, there was no talk of love, affection or support but of chickens, pigs and how many children he wants. And when Annie tells him of her dreams, he scoffs at them as being childish fantasies and that it was time to grow up. But Annie doesn't want to marry Sam. She doesn't want to be a farm wife with a dozen children, working her fingers to the bone. She wants what her parents have...an undying devotion and love for each other. That, and her dream to be on the stage.
When Annie tells her best friend Rose Spencer that her brother had proposed, Rose is shocked. No one, it seems, knows of the proposal bar Annie and her family. Is Sam ashamed of her? Although she had initially said yes, Annie knows that she cannot marry Sam. She doesn't love him and for her that is an important aspect of marriage. After telling Sam that she cannot marry him, Annie and Rose head off to the big lights of London. Annie's father is so angry that she has turned down marriage and a simple life on the farm that he refuses to big his eldest daughter farewell. And Annie leaves with a heavy heart.
London 1914: Joyce Taylor lives in a Victorian terrace house with her uncle Arthur Bradshaw, whose had become a reclusive angry drunk since his wife had left him in the middle of the night soon after Joyce's own father had passed away. Joyce and her father had previously lived with her grandmother but after a disagreement on some kind between her father and grandmother, they moved in with her aunt and uncle. But uncle Arthur's demeanour made Joyce refuse to bring friends back to her home or for anyone to see where she lived. That is, until Annie and Rose came to stay. Joyce felt she should have warned them before taking them home but their presence seemed to shock Arthur and despite himself, he finds himself growing fond of the two young women.
Upon arrival in London, the girls are shocked at the size of everything and the smell is so different to that of the farm. They had written their friend Joyce to let her know they were coming to stay and Joyce greeted them at the very busy Paddington station. They walk through the city streets with Joyce pointing out the various sights and saying hello to the various street vendors along the way.
As soon as they were ensconced in their respective rooms, Annie and Rose knew they would have to find some form of work if they were to pay their way and live. Joyce told them of a waitress position going at the cafe where she worked and Rose appeared interested whilst Annie's heart remained on the stage. Joyce told them about the various theatres in the West End and gave the girls directions to many of them for Annie to try and land herself something. After knocking on the doors of several and being refused, they came to the Lyceum Theatre and walked headlong into a crisis. The star of the show was demanding a dresser be found for her since her previous one had been dismissed for stealing whilst costumes were needing immediate repair for that evening's performance. With no seamstress to be seen, the girls were asked if they could sew and informing them that she could, Rose set to work on repairing the costume. By the end of the afternoon, both girls found themselves jobs in the theatre - Rose as a seamstress and Annie as Kitty Smythe's new dresser.
Despite it not being what she wants, Annie hopes the position will lead her to an opportunity to chase her dream of being on the stage. Spending so much time together in the dressing room, Annie soon grows used to Kitty's outbursts and penchant for brandy in her coffee. The two women get to know one another and begin to form a friendship. When musical director Matthew Harris meets Annie and learns of her ambition to be on the stage, he offers to give her singing lessons to strengthen her voice. But at what cost? Naive and trusting, this almost lands Annie in deep trouble.
Then the threat of war soon becomes real when war is declared and young men from all over the country begin to enlist. Annie and Rose fear for their brothers but given that they are farmers surely they are in a reserved occupation. But a knock at the door one morning brings a shock for Annie when her brother walks in dressed in a khaki uniform. Annie is devastated but David informs her that he felt it his duty, as has two of Rose's brothers also.
But all is not lost. The girls are still in relatively high spirits and romance is in the air for two of them, it seems. Joyce is secretly interested in her boss Simon at the cafe whilst Annie has caught the eye of street vendor Peter. Rose is quite happily living and loving life in London but she can't quite help teasing the other two mercilessly about their love interests.
While Annie has come to London to pursue her dream, Joyce hasn't quite followed hers. Back in the village where they all grew up, Joyce was known to be a dab hand at cooking and baking and her cakes were always to die for. She would love nothing more than to be a cook but to do that she would need to have gone into service as a cook but she couldn't do that without prior job experience...of which she has none. Rose, forever outspoken, continually prompts Joyce to voice her desire to cook to Simon as he may well be open to the idea of her introducing new items to the menu. But Joyce isn't so sure. Simon took over his father's dream for the cafe and it never quite seemed the right time to bring up the notion of her baking and becoming the cook. I guess we'll see where her story goes in the future.
While I found THE WEST END GIRLS a little slow to start, what with Annie banging on about "her dream" and yet never quite doing anything about it, proposals of marriage, rejections, village life and her teetering over actually going to London with Rose and going against her parents' wishes. This took up about the first 10% of the book and I wondered if Annie was ever going to pack up and go. But she and Rose finally made it and life certainly moved on for them once they got there.
The characters were mostly endearing, with the exception of one, and quite charming in their own ways. I found myself wanting to see where their stories would take them and how everything would come together by the end. The mystery of Joyce's missing aunt I had figured out fairly easily as well as the sudden departure of Annie's father's sister from the village years before. But it wasn't until a devastating event that occurred in Annie's life that saw Arthur Bradshaw take her under his protective wing whilst picking himself up and facing responsibility for past actions.
By the end of the book I found I had rather enjoyed THE WEST END GIRLS more than I thought I would, despite the slow start and the deluge of grammatical errors and looooong chapters. Yes, I say it again because it seems to be an ever-occurring thing - I hate long chapters. In fact, while these chapters were long, they were "broken down" and separated by asterixes but I cannot see why they weren't just given a completely new chapter. It seemed far more logical to start a new chapter with a new scene or another character and yet they were continually slapped in the middle of chapters, separated only by an asterix. I honestly didn't see the point.
Despite this, I still enjoyed THE WEST END GIRLS and I found myself back in time in 1914 watching events play out for Annie, Rose and Joyce and enjoying the journey. And I find myself looking forward to the next book "Big Dreams for the West End Girls" which I believe is Joyce's story, whereas this one was more Annie's. A nice touch and I look forward to it.
A thoroughly entertaining read, THE WEST END GIRLS is perfect for fans of historical fiction sagas like The Foyles Bookshop series and The Bobby Girls, and fans of Fiona Ford, Lizzie Lane, Nadine Dorries and Pam Howes.
I would like to thank #ElaineRoberts, #NetGalley and #AriaFiction for an ARC of #TheWestEndGirls in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Elaine Roberts had a dream to write for a living. She completed her first novel in her twenties and received her first very nice rejection. Life then got in the way until circumstances made her re-evaluate her life, and she picked up her dream again in 2010. She joined a creative writing class, The Write Place, in 2012 and shortly afterwards had her first short story published. She was thrilled when many more followed and started to believe in herself.
As a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and The Society of Women Writers & Journalists, Elaine attends many conferences, workshops, seminars and wonderful parties. Meeting other writers gives her encouragement, finding most face similar problems.
Elaine and her patient husband, Dave, have five children who have flown the nest. Home is in Dartford, Kent and is always busy with their children, grandchildren, grand dogs and cats visiting. Without her wonderful family and supportive friends, she knows the dream would never have been realised.
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