Winter Wishes for the East End Girls
Alice Starling lost her husband at Dunkirk two years before and, with no sympathy or support from her mother-in-law, contributes to the defense of London in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, tending a barrage balloon in Wapping. Winter Wishes for the East End Girls is a heartwarming continuation of Fullerton’s East End Girls series, which overlaps with her other East End books, all set east of the Tower of London during WWII.
Alice leads their band of sisters, despite being denied the proper rank and recognition, as Corporal Effie Weston is sidelined when her marriage and pregnancy disqualify her from continued WAAF service (see book 1, The East End Girls). Rationing, winter weather, internal strife, and black marketeers, not to mention the Blitz, push the team to the limits. But Alice, cooperating with Florrie Granger, owner of the pub where they are billeting and a local Women’s Volunteer Service member, expands their attention and hearts to the children of the surrounding neighborhood, trying to turn the worst of times into the “most memorable Christmas ever.”
True to Fullerton’s formula, a handsome man, in this case US Army Lieutenant Brogan Rafferty, throws a romantic wrench into the already stressed gears of Alice’s life. Their first encounter is fraught with misunderstanding and rejection. Alice would be happy never to see the opinionated Yank again, except that he is Florrie’s nephew. Brogan’s job is to reduce the impact of the “overdressed, overpaid, oversexed and over here” American soldiers on London, even though those labels apply to him as well.
Each is attracted to the other, but there’s no smooth sailing for them, nor the rest of the East End Girls, as Christmas weather, holiday expectations, and descension within the WAAF ranks, Effie’s impending delivery, and the war collide on Christmas Eve. The satisfying climax has many hooks to the next story.
