Taking Tea with Elaine Everest

Well it looks like she’s done it again! Elaine’s latest saga, The Teashop Girls, brings a new cast of characters with all their hopes and dreams, and their tragedies, too, to delight us and bring a tear to our eyes. Here she is, chatting with me over a cup of tea.

Thank you, Natalie. You know I like mine strong – where’s the cake?

One of the first things that strikes me is how well the names of your characters fit so perfectly with the era in which they’re set. Do you spend long choosing the right ones and do you ever change your mind half way through the book? For example…No, she’s not a Gertrude, I’ll call her Gladys?

Hmm it is funny you should mention this. I had a big problem with Rose’s mum’s name. She started as Lizzie, but it wasn’t right. Then Esther… Then a few more I’ve forgotten. One day Flora popped into my head and it felt right. Then she flowered into a proper character I could work with. Originally, I meant to name Katie after a flower as well but, it would have been a flower too much!

Very early in the book you talk about Sallys and their work behind the counter at the iconic Lyons teashops. Your research is always meticulous but how on earth do you uncover a fact like the one that puts these girls where they are because of their height? It’s these details that ring so true; that authenticate your work. How you go about such in-depth research?

Research is the key when writing historical novels. I like to dip into any document, book or film that relates to the era and my characters. If it is useful for my story, then I save it. Sometimes a snippet of information, such as the Sallys, pops up and I think of a scene where it can be used. Once I have a grasp of the life my characters would have led, I can tell their story. Researching history does not mean we have to fill our books with facts and numbers to the point that the history takes over, but it must give a flavour of the past to be able to create a backdrop to the story we wish to tell.

As with The Woolworths series, you have three girls around whom the story revolves but I was just as enchanted by their friends and families and how they evoked the principles and matter-of-factness of the people who lived in those difficult times. I found Mildred a particularly interesting character. Was she fully-formed before you began writing?

Mildred was a gift! She was just supposed to walk into the kitchen of Sea View and have her dinner. However, she hung around and made a nuisance of herself and become a valuable member of the cast. I often find I can have fun with the secondary characters while the main characters play out the story.

You obviously know Ramsgate very well and your descriptions of Dunkirk and the little ships bring to life a terrible event in our history but also one of which we can be proud. Can you tell us what it was like writing about such an emotive issue?

I’ve written about Dunkirk before and find it so emotional to think of the owner and the small boats heading off over the Channel to save our lads. I was fortunate to have attended the 75^th anniversary of the Little Ships and visited Ramsgate to witness what was left of these brave little ships heading out of the harbour surrounded by a flotilla of other vessels willing them on to France. Overhead a Spitfire and a Hurricane flew low over the crowd. So close I could see the face of the Spitfire pilot. I’ve never felt so emotional. It is occasions like this that remind us what is great about our wonderful country.

We have learned to recognise Elaine Everest as a saga writer, but you’ve also written other fiction, non-fiction and features. Have these all been in your own name or have publishers asked you to change it? Do you ever write under another name?

I’ve worked as a freelance writer since 1997. In all that time I have NEVER written under another name.
Sometimes publishers will ask us to use a pen name. I was warned it could happen with my sagas but thankfully it didn’t. Someone at the publishing house mentioned that Elaine Everest had a nice ‘ring’ to it and was it my pen name? I laughed and pointed out that ‘reader, I had to marry him’ to gain this name!

You’ve left us with some happy endings and some questions which are begging to be answered. Can we expect a sequel to The Teashop Girls?

There is to be a sequel. Currently I’m scribbling notes and have a reasonable idea of what I will throw at my girls next. Once my agent and editor have approved, I’ll be starting work on the book and hopefully this will be published at the end of 2020. Before then Wedding Bells for Woolworths is to be published in the spring of next year.

It’s been lovely chatting to you as always, and there’s nothing to beat a good cuppa! Thank you for joining me today.

Thank you so much for hosting me today. Can you squeeze another cup out of that pot? X

Of course. And this time we’ll have some cake!

About The Teashop Girls:

The Teashop Girls is a warm and moving tale of friendship and love in wartime, by the bestselling author of the Woolworths series, 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?

  

The Teashop Girls is the new book by Elaine Everest, much-loved author of the Woolworths Girls series. Available on Amazon

About Elaine Everest:

Elaine Everest, author of bestselling novels The Woolworths Girls, The Butlins Girls, Christmas at Woolworths, and Wartime at Woolworths was born and brought up in North West Kent, where many of her books are set. She has been a freelance writer for twenty-two years and has written widely for women's magazines and national newspapers, with both short stories and features. Her non-fiction books for dog owners have been very popular and led to broadcasting on radio about our four legged friends. Elaine has been heard discussing many topics on radio from canine subjects to living with a husband under her feet when redundancy looms.

When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write Place creative writing school at The Howard Venue in Hextable, Kent and has a long list of published students. Elaine lives with her husband, Michael, and their Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Henry, in Swanley, Kent and is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, The Crime Writers Association, The Society of Women Writers & Journalists and The Society of Authors.

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