The Teashop Girls

The Teashop Girls #1

by Elaine Everest

It is early 1940 and World War Two has already taken a hold on the country. Rose Neville works as a Lyon’s Teashop Nippy on the Kent coast alongside her childhood friends, the ambitious Lily and Katie, whose fiancé is about to be posted overseas in the navy. As war creates havoc in Europe, Rose relies on the close friendship of her friends and her family.

When Capt. Benjamin Hargreaves enters the teashop one day, Rose is immediately drawn to him. But as Lyon’s forbids courting between staff and customers, she tries to put the handsome officer out of her mind.

In increasingly dark and dangerous times, Rose fears there may not be time to waste. But is the dashing captain what he seems?

Genres: Historical Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2019

About the author

Elaine Everest is the Sunday Times Bestselling author of historical sagas including The Woolworths Girls series, The Teashop Girls series and other popular books.

She is represented by the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency Ltd.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi, some of you will remember me reviewing ‘A Gift From Woolworths’ last year, well the author is back and this time writing about another name we all know and remember ‘Lyons’ and their teashop ( based in the early 1940’s/WW2 )
We are introduced to and immediately get to know and become friends with such characters as Rose, Lily, Kate and Mildred and their lives, loves, fears and woes and all based around the teashop
A Captain Hargreaves enters the scene ( and loving that the word courting is used ) and Rose is besotted.....but can she allow herself to fall in love with him??
As with the ‘Woolworths’ books I LOVE the scene setting from another time that this author does so well and the way you are drawn into the characters lives
Friendships,good times and bad are all here wrapped around the cosy Lyons institute
Elaine Everest’s books always make me want to be ‘there’ and part of it with her writing style and easy story flow
An enjoyable and comforting book
9/10 5 Stars

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t wait to start reading The Teashop Girls, I started it as soon as I received it from the postman. You know there are just certain books that you are bursting to get into and open that book immediately.

Full praise to Elaine Everest, she makes characters such a joy to read.

My review on bookread2day.wordpress.com
I adored this theme about Lyon’s Teashop, it’s an excellent idea, full of adventure. Ramsgate Lyon’s Teashop Nippy, the staff there were named Nippy, as they would all nip about the place, serving customers. The women that served behind the counter at the front of the Teashop selling teacakes and bread were named as Sally’s. With World War Two starting, the Nippies had to attach a Gas mask to their belts on their uniform. I actually live about 30 miles away from Ramsgate myself, so I can feel the bitter cold of those January early morning starts to the Lyon’s Teashop just of the Ramsgate seafront for Rose Neville, and all the other staff that froze on the way to work. I thought it rather funny how all the staff including Rose Neville thought that the manageress Miss Butterworth was dragon to work for. Rose Neville loved her job in Ramsgate, but dreamed of singing. A very handsome captain Benjamin Hargreaves comes into the Teashop but One of the rules are staff are not allowed to to have any outside contact with customers. Will Rose be able to put this good looking captain out of her mind ?

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Teashop Girls introduces us to a new set of friends, Rose, Lily and Katie who work for the Lyons Tea Shop in Kent. Set against the background of WW2, it deals with the ups and downs of life during this period as well as the personal ups and downs of the girls' lives. it is an engrossing read and I loved how everything came together at the end - in the true spirit of wartime, the Lyons Tea Shop does its duty to provide food for the soldiers during the Dunkirk evacuations. The only downside for me was that the Polish character, Anya, didn't quite ring true but I loved her anyway along with the other friends of the girls.

[Vanessa-Ann Dowsett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another delight from Elaine Everest. I have listened to all of the Woolworths stories and thoroughly enjoyed those. This is about the Lyons Tea Shops Nippies and Sallys. The Nippies were the waitresses and the Sallys were the girls who sold cakes etc from the display window. Set at the beginning of the 'phoney' war, the three main characters are all Nippies and have been friends since childhood. They have to cope with the increasing hardships and the harsh reality of a country at war. As usual, no spoilers from me but for those who enjoyed Elaines other books, you will not be disappointed. The character who made me smile was the Polish refugee Anya, boy, did this young lady speak her mind

[Adele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elaine Everest is fast becoming one of my favourite saga writers. Her writing is very authentic and is full of atmospheric prose with regional dialect making you appreciate the era and it's locality.
The Teashop Girls is a new stand-alone story from Elaine Everest and we travel back to 1940 to the coastal towns of Ramsgate and Margate to when the country is in fear of what lays ahead with the war. The story centres around three best friends; Rose, Lily and Katie who are all workers at the prestigious J Lyons & Co teashop. The girls are embracing life during wartime with tea dances and enjoying the attention of the servicemen stationed close to the town. However, as war inches closer to home danger and turmoil is not far behind and the girls soon have to find an inner strength to survive.
I loved learning about the prestigious teashop and the roles the individual staff members play. It's lovely how we are seeing a revival of teashops and some of the styles from the original teashops, such as J Lyons & Co, are now created bringing back this glorious, elegant past-time of taking tea and cake.
Elaine Everest has created a lovely nostalgic romantic saga that is very charming but the author wasn't afraid to reveal the true horrors of war and drama blending a story that feels very real. The three main characters were very likeable and you soon start championing their lives but I also loved the array of sub-characters that played a key-role in the storyline with the likes of Flora, Mildred and Anya bringing great scenes between all the characters.
Saga novels keep history alive and for readers that lived in the era depicted in the story it feels like a trip down memory lane. However, we will soon come to a time when new readers will be visiting these historical moments for the first time and this is the true beauty of historical fiction. Elaine Everest beautifully transports you to a different era with ease and entertains and fascinates readers of life, love and friendship during difficult times in history.

[Sue Vickery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fab book from Elaine Everest. Loved the characters Rose, Katie, Lily, Flora, Anya, Mildred.

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author and this book didn't disappoint. I really enjoyed getting to know Rose and the other teashop girls and hope there is more to come.
The book tells the story of Rose and her friends who work at the Lyons teashop in Ramsgate. We follow their adventures as the war starts and true events are cleverly woven into the story as Dunkirk is evacuated. As always with this author not everything is happy ever after and I love that she doesn't sugar coat things.
A must read for fans of the Woolworth girls.

[Pat Langhelt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love all her books this one set in j Lyons teashops great story set in ramsgate and Margate brought good memories when I used to go there many years ago.

[Carol Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written as usual, but just a tad too happily ever after for this little black Duck. Every book needs a bit of high drama. Instead of that happening everything worked out so well it became almost boring. I skipped through a lot of the inane dialogue. Just so... Ho Hum!

[Kathy E · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely story set on the Kent coast during World War 2. You can only think of Nippies being in Lyons Corner House in the Strand in London. Elaine has done the research and found one in Ramsgate and Margate in the 40's. This book has three lovely girls who are great friends, Rose, Lily and Katie who are all Joe Lyons Nippies.
It all starts around the Sea View Guest House run by Rose's mother Flora, and the wonderful ladies staying there, Miss Tibbs, Mildred, Joyce and her daughter Pearl and Anya. Not to forget the lovely Captain Benjamin Hargraves. The one person that really made me chuckle was Anya, the Polish lady that Flora save from young rascals throwing stones at her. There are secrets hidden in this story so, I will leave it there. This is a recommended read from Elaine Everest and well worth the five stars I have given it.

[ღ❀ ℭaroline ❀ღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had been looking forward to reading this book for ages - I’d toyed with the idea of buying it, but in the end I waited on the seemingly unending list at the library for my turn.

It took me a while to get into the swing of it which surprised me as I’d really enjoyed the author’s previous books and I loved the idea of Lyons and the Corner Houses as the subject. I remember years ago reading a trilogy set during WWII about Lyons and the Nippies and was looking forward to reading about them again.

Unfortunately there were just too many characters who I really disliked that spoilt it for me - the girls manageress; Tom White, who never got the comeuppance he deserved; and most of all, the Polish woman Anya. Her character just didn’t ring true.

I couldn’t work out if this was a one-off, or is it part of a series? It certainly could have been extended into another book. The ending was so sudden, it felt rushed as if the author had suddenly got bored with it. All in all, out of the Elaine Everest books I’ve read - the Woolworths series and the Butlins book, the Teashop Girls is at the bottom of the pile, I’m afraid. Saying that, I will look forward to her next book as I come from the glorious county of ‘The Garden of England’ - Kent, and know all the places being written about.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyons teashops were an an institution in Britain between the two wars, as much for their distinctive, well trained “Nippies” as their good food and drinks. This book features three girls who were collectively known as Nippies in the Ramsgate branch. Rose, Lily and Katie have all grown up in Ramsgate, and have all been trained in London to work in this local branch. It is now early 1940, and the stirrings of war are beginning to affect daily life and threaten the calm of the town. The girls will discover the changes that war will bring in this well written story of life and loves when everything is under threat. Secrets are exposed, dangers faced and discoveries made as the girls try to stand together with those that love them. The background of danger in a coastal town makes this a different picture from a London based war novel and lends a certain intimacy to a community under fire. I was so pleased to be given the opportunity to read and review this book which is bound to prove popular with Elaine’s many fans.

The book opens with Flora, Rose’s mother in 1926, when life seems very different. She enjoys visiting a Lyons tea shop, but hopes for more than such work for her only child. As she secretly lays aside the clues to a hopeful future, she acknowledges that she must get back to running a guest house, Sea View, which is the scene for much of the narrative in 1940. As we first see Rose, she is helping her friend Lily as she arrives in a dishevelled state, partly as a result of losing her mother recently. Rose is aware that working in Lyons is a cut above the other local cafes, even if the cost is dealing with the extremely strict Miss Butterworth, manager of the Ramsgate branch. Katie also arrives, full of the joy of her relationship with Jack who like her grew up in the local orphanage. They go on to meet people like the charming Ben who offer a glimpse of a different life, and face challenges that can sometimes be seen as horrific. Revelations emerge as the focus of the book slightly moves, but the people gravitate back to Sea View as the centre of the action as offering shelter to an assorted group of people. Anya is a refugee who has joined the household, but my favourite character is Mildred, whose bravery and kindness transforms situations. As enemy invasion becomes a real possibility, and a great event means that everyone is stretched to the limit.

This is such an absorbing book, which flows so well that it is difficult to put down. I felt that the characters worked well as individuals, with each of their own situations dealt with, and then together the dialogue and dynamics really brought them all alive. As with Elaine’s Woolworths series, the central force of the Lyons tea shop holds the strands together, together with Sea View. The local knowledge as always is impeccable, as well as the research into the strict rules by which Lyons ran every branch. I really enjoyed this novel in every respect, and cannot wait to see if and when “The Teashop Girls” and their friends return.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

In early 1940 the war is starting to take its toll but people are doing their best to just carry on the best way they can.
Rose, Lily and Katie work in the Lyons tea shop, the girls are like sisters and also daughters to Rose's mam Flora who runs the Sea view guest house with its oddly assorted live in guests.
Then arose meets the dashing Captain Benjamin Hargreaves and the attraction is undeniable.
But then the threat of war, family secrets and obstacles from Ben's past all get in their way so Rose pushes him to the back of her mind but can she really be happy without him?
What will happen to all of them and what with the future bring during this cruel war.
Another start to a wonderful wartime saga by the author who is keeping up the tradition of great stories and characters away from the Woolworths shops and right into the Lyons tea shops.
Perfect for historical novel and wartime tales alike.

[Sharon Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say, I honestly cannot get enough of Elaine Everest books. I absolutely love them and The Teashop Girls was extremely hard to put down. You can picture all the characters and the areas it is set (places I have visited many times when I was younger). She seems to transport you back to that time and you do feel like you are living the same lives as those characters.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good war saga, showing the lives of the women as the men are off fighting the war.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely cosy saga novel set during World War 2, we follow three friends Lily, Rose & Katie as they work in the famous Lyons teashop. My first book by this author but certainly won't be my last, kept me engaged from the start to end.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time I have read this author and loved this story .I could picture it all. During the 2nd world war it was a sad time for many but also a joyous time for some. So glad I read this book

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. First book I have read by this author and I look forward to reading some more.

[Novelle Novels · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first of another great series which I loved. We had characters that developed perfectly and friendships that you treasure. Elaine Everest is my favourite author of wartime historical fiction..

[Alison Boniface · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another fantastic book by Elaine.
I’ve read the Woolworths books and loved and the butlins girls too. So when I saw another book by The same author I knew I was in for a treat, and I wasn’t wrong. Set around the lives of 3 girls and their families against the backdrop of a Lyons corner tea shop in WW2 , this book really does give you an idea of bough tough it was to have relationships and live a normal life with bombs dropping all around you. An absolute must for anyone who loves a good ww2 book.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not disappointed with this book, a real enjoyable read. The characters are believable and the story line has truth in it, which is interesting to me as I love social history. Having read several by the same author, I love the way she ties all the books together. You don't have to read them in a specific order, as they're not a series but there are elements which are common to all of them and I really like that. I will certainly be looking out for more.

[Chris Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

really enjoyed the teashop girls would have loved to go to a lyons tea room couldnt wait to see what happened next to the characters was hard to put down brilliant story x

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading Elaine Everest books I’ve read all the Woolworths series I loved them all too this was brilliant also following the nippies working in lyons tea shops while on the front line of ww2 another great read hope there’s a follow up book please x

[Nicola Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elaine Everest is someone that I think of as being a top saga writer and yet this is the first of her books that I have read. Shocking, I know!

We follow three young women: Rose, Lily and Katie. They all work in the Lyons teashop in Ramsgate. Having been friends since they were children, it's also lovely that their friendship has continued into adulthood. The story is set in 1940 and the war is just about to step up a gear from the so-called phoney war into something much more serious.

Yes, this is the story of three friends but it's very much Rose who is the central character. Everybody and everything revolves around her and she's a really lovely person. She harbours dreams of being a singer but is also very happy working as a Nippy. She meets a man one evening when she is singing and she finds herself unable to forget him. Nothing is quite straightforward though, as you would expect, and I wouldn't want it any other way as the best sagas have to have some upset and conflict before reaching a (hopefully) happy conclusion.

I absolutely loved The Teashop Girls. I particularly loved all the detail about working in the teashops, the Nippies and the Sallies, the way they were run. I think the author has done a lot of research and probably enjoyed doing so very much. I also enjoyed the romance between Rose and Captain Hargreaves which I thought was beautifully written.

This is a gorgeous story of love, friendship and solidarity during wartime. Along with the characters I have already mentioned, there were a number of delightful supporting characters. I thought Mildred Dalrymple, in particular, was fantastic. She's a strong woman, off out on her fishing boat, getting jobs done and not caring what people think of her.

As I say, there are lots of ups and downs for the characters but this is ultimately a feel-good, completely heart-warming story. I don't know whether this is a standalone book or part of a new series, but either way I shall look forward to reading more of Elaine Everest's books in the future.

[MS Julie Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

I really enjoyed reading this book and couldn't put it up . Looking forward to your next book . Haven't read you book before this but will do now

[Ruth Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have attached enjoyed this book very much now the Butlin girls toread

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been eagerly awaiting this book, having enjoyed the woolworth girls books I knew that the teashop girls would not disappoint. It follows Rose,Lily and Katie who have been friends since childhood. It has a great mix of heartwrenching parts and some funny moments. I deliberately took my time with it, savouring it. I really hope that there will be another book following the girls as ww2 progresses. Brilliant book, thank you Elaine.

[Tiffany Johnstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I think Lily is my favourite character so far. It’s a wonderful story about relying on friends in desperate times of need.

[Heather Copping · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, what a lovely book. Full of wartime friendships between the girls who work at Lyons Tea Rooms as nippies and the residents of the towns of Margate and Ramsgate. I have read previous books by this author and this book is as good as her other books. Worthy of 5 stars.

[M.W. Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

After becoming a fan of Ms. Everest’s writing with her ‘The Woolworth Girls’ series of novels, I was delighted to hear that this author had a new series coming out, centred around the famous Lyons teashops. Please say hello to the central cast of Rose and her mother Flora, their friends Lily and Katie, Mildred a mother cum father figure whom I can’t wait to find out more about. The icing on the cake is a delightful Polish immigrant named Anya.

Set around two teashops in Margate and Ramsgate, the novel begins (post a sort Prologue) shortly prior to the Dunkirk evacuation of June 1940 with our protagonist’s literarily on England’s frontline and indeed, this is emphasised to full emotional effect by the writer a number of times. The descriptions of both during and post an air-raid are amongst the most vivid and real that this reader has seen and I must congratulate the author on this.

Seaview is the guesthouse that Flora runs and as well as the teashops, is the main location for the action. There is an eclectic mix of characters that are present here and together with the inclusion of an Army love interest for Rose, makes this an engaging, thrilling novel that should bring not only keep Ms. Everest’s long-standing readers happy, but should bring her a whole new tranche of devotees.
Now, if you want to know more about the story, bad luck, my reviews won’t include those details. In fact, I’ve probably said more than I would normally do, though I do challenge you not to fall in love with Anya as much as I have.

Ms. Everest is a master story teller and has given the world of reading a treat with the introduction of her Nippy’s and ensemble.

My thanks to all at Pan MacMillan, especially Bethan, for the Advance Reading copy.