What do you think?
Rate this book
The Empire Girls
Sue Wilsher, author of When My Ship Comes In, makes an emotional return to 1950s Essex
Tilbury, 1950s. The Empire is a boarding house run by Vi, Doris's mother - the Empire Girls of the title. When Doris becomes pregnant out of marriage, she is kicked out of the house and forced to fend for herself. Desperate to look after her daughter, she takes any job going. She falls in with the Windrush immigrants and finds herself helping one to a new life in Britain.
384 pages, Paperback
Published May 17, 2018
5 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Sue Wilsher
4 books19 followersSue Wilsher grew up in South Essex near a shoe factory and the Thames estuary. The factory housed its workers, including Sue's grandparents and mother. Sue now lives in Kent with her family.
Sue's debut novel When My Ship Comes In is set in 1950s Essex and centres around a downtrodden docker's wife who joins a young wives club and is challenged to train for a 'man's job'. She must decide whether to sacrifice her dreams of a better life to keep her family together.
Her second novel, The Empire Girls, is also set in 1950s Essex and is a moving story of heartbreak and friendship. The Empire is a pub run by Vi, Doris's mother, but when Doris falls pregnant 'out of wedlock' she is kicked out and forced to fend for herself. As a homeless single mother, life is tough for Doris, and even harder when she makes friends with a group of 'Windrush' immigrants, outcasts like herself.
The Tilbury Poppies is Sue's latest novel. Set in a munitions factory in 1916 Essex, it tells the story of Lily and Charlotte, 'munitionettes' from very different backgrounds. Lily is caught up in a fight for women's and worker's rights but doesn't foresee how her newfound freedoms will affect her family.
Sue's debut novel When My Ship Comes In is set in 1950s Essex and centres around a downtrodden docker's wife who joins a young wives club and is challenged to train for a 'man's job'. She must decide whether to sacrifice her dreams of a better life to keep her family together.
Her second novel, The Empire Girls, is also set in 1950s Essex and is a moving story of heartbreak and friendship. The Empire is a pub run by Vi, Doris's mother, but when Doris falls pregnant 'out of wedlock' she is kicked out and forced to fend for herself. As a homeless single mother, life is tough for Doris, and even harder when she makes friends with a group of 'Windrush' immigrants, outcasts like herself.
The Tilbury Poppies is Sue's latest novel. Set in a munitions factory in 1916 Essex, it tells the story of Lily and Charlotte, 'munitionettes' from very different backgrounds. Lily is caught up in a fight for women's and worker's rights but doesn't foresee how her newfound freedoms will affect her family.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 26, 2018
This is the first book I have read by Sue Wilsher and it definitely will not be the last, I was totally hooked on this book and couldn't put it down.
1950s Tilbury in Essex and the world is a much different place. There are so many prejudices that today you find hard to believe, a single mother thrown out onto the streets by her own mother who seems to have so many issues of her own to cope with. Disabled children would never be allowed to have such horrible names called about them and the West Indian community trying to fit into a world where nobody wants them. All these subjects are covered in this book and it really does make you think about things. The 1950s to me doesn't seem to be that long ago, being born in the late 50s and I find it hard to think all these prejudices went on then.
Doris is the main character and we meet her at 16 years old giving birth on her bedroom floor, totally unaware of what is happening to her and how she got pregnant in the first place. Her life goes to bad to even worse after being thrown out but she eventually finds friendships from an unlikely place, with the girls in the local brothel and her lovely friends from the West Indies. There are happy times, funny and sad times to face and if you like a good saga book to get stuck into then you will love this book.
1950s Tilbury in Essex and the world is a much different place. There are so many prejudices that today you find hard to believe, a single mother thrown out onto the streets by her own mother who seems to have so many issues of her own to cope with. Disabled children would never be allowed to have such horrible names called about them and the West Indian community trying to fit into a world where nobody wants them. All these subjects are covered in this book and it really does make you think about things. The 1950s to me doesn't seem to be that long ago, being born in the late 50s and I find it hard to think all these prejudices went on then.
Doris is the main character and we meet her at 16 years old giving birth on her bedroom floor, totally unaware of what is happening to her and how she got pregnant in the first place. Her life goes to bad to even worse after being thrown out but she eventually finds friendships from an unlikely place, with the girls in the local brothel and her lovely friends from the West Indies. There are happy times, funny and sad times to face and if you like a good saga book to get stuck into then you will love this book.
April 28, 2018
Sue Wilsher has written a story that tugged at your heartstrings from nigh on the very beginning. It enlightened me on just how tough it would have been to be an unmarried mother in the 50s, how shameful and how the community reacted! From the moment I recieved my book it wasn't out of my hands. The story had me laughing one moment, to complete shock the next. The innocence of a 16 year old Doris, to the exclusion of a daughter, to the lovely caring relationship with a prostitute & the friendship of the men from the West Indies. In all of that too, Sue had the description of my home town of Tilbury, from the sounds of the docks to the smells of the river down to a t!!!
Definitely a must read!!
Definitely a must read!!
August 11, 2020
Wow! What a incredibly thought provoking story.
I couldn't stop reading this book, every word lept off the page and drew me in.
The story is set in Tilbury in the 1950's. Doris lives at the Empire pub with her mom, Vi and her uncle Archie and aunt Win. She lives a very sheltered life, at sixteen she is not allowed to go out. Only a few pages into the book we read of Doris crying in pain in her bedroom, she hasn't a clue what is happening to her, eventually she gives birth to a baby girl, shocked her mother gets her uncle to take her to a mother and baby home. 'Don't come back here with it' are the words that Doris hears through her daze as she is taken away.
I couldn't stop reading this book, every word lept off the page and drew me in.
The story is set in Tilbury in the 1950's. Doris lives at the Empire pub with her mom, Vi and her uncle Archie and aunt Win. She lives a very sheltered life, at sixteen she is not allowed to go out. Only a few pages into the book we read of Doris crying in pain in her bedroom, she hasn't a clue what is happening to her, eventually she gives birth to a baby girl, shocked her mother gets her uncle to take her to a mother and baby home. 'Don't come back here with it' are the words that Doris hears through her daze as she is taken away.
June 15, 2025
Took a little while to finish this book due to working etc
Excellent Story, as it was told you might think is this a true story. There were elements of the story especially the racism card and not allowing certain races in the pub that wouldn’t happen today
Doris is a very strong lady, when her mum abandons her when she has given birth to a child it’s such a sad story but this kind of treatment did happen all those years ago
The story was about her journey and how her mum Vi deserted her but then they came back together in the end
Interesting read!
Thank you!
Excellent Story, as it was told you might think is this a true story. There were elements of the story especially the racism card and not allowing certain races in the pub that wouldn’t happen today
Doris is a very strong lady, when her mum abandons her when she has given birth to a child it’s such a sad story but this kind of treatment did happen all those years ago
The story was about her journey and how her mum Vi deserted her but then they came back together in the end
Interesting read!
Thank you!
May 18, 2018
I found this a very traumatic story a real heart shaker,after giving birth on the floor in her bedroom Doris is sent away by her mother who is in shock and terrified the neighbours will find out.Doris gave birth to a little girl born with a club foot and sadly is not suitable for adoption so doris is told she has to take her daughter and leave.She goes to a home in southend but she yearns for her own mother and home so she runs back to tilbury.5*
May 22, 2018
Wow what a read and it tugs at your heartstrings. It’s a really insightful book into the way people were treated back in the 1950’s. An innocent young girl has a baby through no fault of her own and is disowned by her family in her hour of need. Frightened and unsure of what is happening to her poor Doris starts off on a journey of discovery with her young crippled baby. A fantastic read I highly recommend this book.
November 24, 2018
The Empire
When I first found this book I was unsure what it was about. I just knew it was the time in history I enjoyed learning and reading about. This story was fabulous. It won't be my last Sue Wilsher book.
When I first found this book I was unsure what it was about. I just knew it was the time in history I enjoyed learning and reading about. This story was fabulous. It won't be my last Sue Wilsher book.
November 21, 2021
Loved it. Harrowing in places but worth a Sunday read.
May 9, 2018
Doris lived with her mother Vi, who runs the pub called The Empire, this story starts in Tilbury Docks 1952. Doris gives birth upstairs in the pub to a baby girl, and her mother is so shocked that she is sent straight away to the sally army home in greys and told to get the baby adopted. the baby is born with a club foot and Doris is told she has to keep her and leave. Doris is not accepted back home with baby Laura and is sent to a home in Southend at the C.W.M. in which she flees and heads back to Tilbury. i found this book really hard to put down as it is such an emotional story. the hardship of been an unmarried mother struggling to get by on what her Aunty win delivers to her weekly. Doris is watching and hoping her mother would let her go home. there are lots of secrets just waiting to surface that will shock Doris so i just had to keep on reading. such a very enjoyable read the author was spot on.
August 4, 2018
really enjoyed this book.looking forward to more stories.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews