The Shop Girls: A True Story of Hard Work, Friendship and Fashion in an Exclusive 1950s Department Store

by Ellee Seymour

For Eve, Irene, Betty and Rosemary, working at the exclusive Heyworth's department store in Cambridge is a dream come true. Once the girls step inside the elegant building - surrounded by luxurious dresses and beautiful accessories - the hardships of their own lives are temporarily forgotten. Serving a variety of curious customers, from glamorous gypsy queens to genuine royalty and stuffy academics to the city's fashionable elite, the store is a place where these young women can forge successful careers, under the ever-watchful eye of flamboyant owner Mr Heyworth.Set against the backdrop of the closing years of the Second World War, and moving into the 1950s, The Shop Girls perfectly captures the camaraderie and friendship of four ambitious young women working together in a store that offered them an escape from the drudgery of their wartime childhoods. Each of the girls' stories will be individually published from July 2014 in fortnightly serialised ebooks, leading up to the release of the complete edition (with bonus material) in September.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 25, 2014

Reviews

[Briar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fine but a bit pedestrian. I think it would have been slightly better if I'd read each of the women's stories separately. In this book, they were split up into chapters, so you get a chapter of Eve's life then a chapter of Rosemary's and so on. I kept forgetting which details belonged with which person's story. They all seemed quite similar so it was easy to get them mixed up.

In addition the research didn't seem particularly deep, and the writing style didn't engage me. From the book's description I'd expected a lot more interesting detail on working in a department store at the time, but the majority of the book was just biographical detail speeding through the women's lives. Although there were stories about Heyworth's and what it was like to work there, the book didn't dive into that in the way I'd hoped for. Yet despite the focus on the women's lives, I never really felt as though I got to know any of them.

There were some interesting things in this book but it just didn't grab my interest.

[Hilary Tesh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I bothered to complete this book - it was poorly written and badly proof read! I'd expected it to be more of a social history of what it was like to work in an old fashioned department store - but most of the book was taken up with biographical stories of the shop girls. There were too many names (the four featured shop girls plus their boyfriends, husbands, children, other family members and umpteen work mates - all largely indistinguishable from one another) and too much jumping about in time - plus most of the anecdotes were pretty inane and nothing to do with the old fashioned Cambridge department store. A waste of reading time.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this 'behind-the-scenes' look at department stores at a time when going to a department store was an event - and even later when I was a child, it still was! I often used to wonder about those ladies behind the counter, and this gave me some idea of what it was like. If you're interested in social history, and the history of women at work, I would recommend this.

[Anna Ciddor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened on audio. Well written, interesting stories of the lives of several girls who worked in the store, each life broken up and told like a serial.

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Eve, Irene, Betty and Rosemary, working at the exclusive Heyworth's department store in Cambridge is a dream come true. Once the girls step inside the elegant building - surrounded by luxurious dresses and beautiful accessories - the hardships of their own lives are temporarily forgotten. Serving a variety of curious customers, from glamorous gypsy queens to genuine royalty and stuffy academics to the city's fashionable elite, the store is a place where these young women can forge successful careers, under the ever-watchful eye of flamboyant owner Mr Heyworth.Set against the backdrop of the closing years of WWII,and postwar period, this book perfectly captures the camaraderie and friendship of 4 ambitious young women working together in a store that offered them an escape from the drudgery of their lives.
It was the Victorians who invented modern shopping. They gave us the chain brand, the delectable theatre of the shop window, and the full immersion of the department store.The act of shopping, once a straightforward financial transaction, was reinvented: it became seen as a delightful, diverting and even therapeutic experience in itself.Women were identified as an untapped market with apparently limitless possibilities. There was some public harrumphing about how this new shopping experience simply fuelled women's inherent vulgarity, their susceptibility to frippery and their lack of self-control. But for working-class women, shopwork (which was viewed as more genteel than manual labour, but still not entirely respectable) opened up a new field of employment.Shopgirls were commonly seen as aspiring types who wanted to better themselves. For most, however, the reality behind the smart borrowed clothes was an exhausting ordeal of "standing, smiling and serving", with a 20-minute lunch break. Being incessantly on one's feet was agonising.
Heyworth's Department Store in Cambridge opened in 1928 and closed in 1965.George and his son Herbert, ran the store. Both were extraordinary men who while strict about idleness,cared greatly for their employees and treasured customers. Heyworth's elegantly attired so many women in Cambridge and beyond.

[Annette Boehm · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. Some grammatical issues in the foreword already tipped me off that maybe this could have used a more rigorous editor. I made it 75 pages into this book before I gave up. Maybe it gets better after that, but the epilogues read pretty much like the first pages, so I wouldn't bet on it. Here's what made me give up: there's no storytelling skill. It feels like the author just transcribed, fairly uncritically, her notes from interviews with the women she writes about. Hearing at least once in every chapter that someone 'enjoyed every minute of it' (especially when it comes to war service) gives little credibility to this non-fiction book. And the women's girlhood stories, up to where they get the job at the store, are told in such a meandering, dull manner it's hard not to get bored.

[Jec · Rating 4 out of 5]

a charming little book
i only had 2 regrets with this....first.....i would have loved a story like this based on American department stores.
it brought back many memories of my days with B'Altman and Company. so many of the stories and situations translated well to what i am sure was experienced by young women here in America.
and second....i think the bouncing between the girls and their stories caused it to be a bit disjointed. personally, i would have preferred to tell each story start to finish.
all in all as i said a charming little book.

[StationWagon Stripes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this because I like stories about life in old fashioned department stores. I absolutely loved the tv series Mr. Selfridge and read this after watching it. However, I don't think it was terribly well written and certainly not as glamorous as TV. I didn't appreciate the repetition of text but it was certainly not the worst book I've read.

[Helen Balkwill · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother worked at the store in question and so I had personal reason for reading the book.

I enjoyed it. A nicely told story, crafted from oral history interviews and with the author's knack for commenting on interesting detail from that period.

I would be happy to read more like it.

[Hester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't finish it. Interesting but not captivating. I guess this was little snapshots of peoples lives so showed only the main parts and the good parts. A narrative usually has more of a battle that needs overcome and some change on the part of the heroine required.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet true stories about 4 women ranging from the 1930's to the 1960's in England.
It was a little hard for me to follow because the stories jumped back and forth a bit.

[Sadie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading about the shop girls at the posh Cambridge department store. A bit confusing keeping all the girls straight. Would have enjoyed it better if the girls stories were told separately.

[Marilyn Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very repetative

It was alright but I found it hard going at times. With so many characters and so much repeated in each of the person's story,

[Josie · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Audiobook version]

I like social history books but this was very average.  The writing jumped around a lot -- there was one particularly irritating cliffhanger where Irene is called into Mr Heyworth's office where he roars WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS at her, and I then had to listen to another couple of chapters about the other women before we get back to this story (and the ridiculously unsatisifying conclusion, IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING, is that she'd received a personal letter delivered to her workplace).

[Sue K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just loved this book! a resfreshing, easy to read biography of these real shop-girls from the 1940s to 60s. To think you could leave school so young back then (14 or 15 yo)- often because your family couldn't afford a uniform! Now where I live you can't leave until you've turned 17. I love the descriptions of the shop, it reminds me of some of the department stores I visited when younger. They just don't exist anymore like this, too costly to run. A really interesting look at a lifestyle that has all but gone, for better or worse.

[Julia Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found the story enjoyable, it was difficult to follow as the author kept jumping between the 4 narratives. The most annoying thing was that the author constantly re-explains certain events, policies, etc, for example- the description of the cafe owned by the owner of the department store became etched into my mind because it was repeated so much. An interesting piece of history, but badly written.

[Booklover BEV · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fantastic read four women eve irene betty and rosemary on their starting work in the heyworths store all a different story to tell of their true lifes the trails of the second world war throught to the 1950s to this day

[Maeve Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable insight into people lives pre and post WW2 but I was not a fan of the author's style.

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I did enjoy this book and the wonderful insight into the lives of the shop girls I found that the book was a little hard to follow in places.

[Christine Wylde · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't enjoy this at all. Each chapter too similar to the previous.

[Patricia O'Brien · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the most boring book I have read in a long time...cannot bother to comment further.