The East End Girls

 The East End Girls

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       June 27, 2025

 

Author  Jean Fullarton

Distributor:      Amazon
ISBN:                 9781836185246
Publisher:         Bookouture
Release Date:   27 June 2025  

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In 1942 London was being bombed by the German Air Force in what became known as the Blitzkrieg. Able bodied men of all ages were being recruited into the Armed Forces, as Britain was suffering terribly in Europe, leaving a shortage of people to carry out essential work.

One of the defences against the German planes was a series of massive cigar shaped balloons hoisted every night to form a barrage across London. Women were being trained to undertake the heavy work of maintaining and launching these balloons.

In The East End Girls, Jean Fullerton tells their story once again as Effie and her crew face up to the cold, wet, brutal unforgiving training to be to become an essential component of Britain’s defences.

Effie comes from a family of consequence in Waltham Abbey. She is engaged to Leonard and is expecting to marry the following year. She meets Nathan at St Pancras station as she is about to have her suitcase stolen. They are intrigued but put it down to nothing more than a chance encounter.

Flying Officer Nathan Fitzgerald has been seconded to a secretive airfare base to fly a Lysander plane across the channel to drop off and pick up agents from France. He is from Jamaica, well respected in the Airforce, a man who is skilful in his work as a pilot and well educated.

Their pathways begin to cross in the most unlikely manner, and it is not long before they both realise there is something deep forming between them that they can no longer deny. This deep love will cause a most hurtful schism within Effie’s family but will also show her the invaluable help and love of the women she has grown to know and love, as they worked tirelessly together to help defend the East End of London, night after night.

The East End Girls is the first in a new series from Jean Fullarton and is one that is an excellent blend of history and fiction, carefully woven together to create a very plausible, enjoyable story which sets a high standard for the following books in the series.

Fiction, Historical