Today it’s my great pleasure to welcome Elaine Everest to the blog once more.
Well here we are again, Elaine, chatting about another new book, this time Christmas with the Teashop Girls. So, with your builder’s tea and my rather weaker version, let’s begin.
Thank you for having me, Natalie. Any chance of a digestive biscuit with my mug of builder’s tea? Certainly, but if you’re going to dunk let me know so I can turn away.
In Christmas with the Teashop Girls, no less than with all your previous books, you take us back to a period in our history in which you are so obviously immersed that you live and breathe it. Bearing in mind that you weren’t even born then, can you talk us through the process that has given you such a deep understanding of east Kent in the Second World War years?
I rely heavily on my own memories of the late fifties and sixties and those of friends and family who have told me about life in the forties. I’m a Kent girl through and through. If I was a stick of seaside rock, I’d have ‘Kentish Maid’ running through me! Born and bred in North West Kent many of our early holidays were spent in Ramsgate and, while there, Mum would arrange for us to take coach trips out into the countryside. We’d journey down by coach or train and I still have vivid images in my mind of passing farms and hop fields until we spotted that first glimpse of the sea. I’m still the same now, but sadly many farms and hop fields have vanished to be replaced by housing and industrial estates – and lorries!
Non-fiction books,
documentaries, postcards, photographs, newspaper archives, films, museums, and
anything remotely related to my favourite era and I’m back there in an instant.
As I write this it is Saturday afternoon and I’m waiting for the film ‘Genevieve’
to begin on the Talking Pictures channel. Yes, it is set in the fifties, but
much is the same as the forties and I can sigh over Kenneth More…
If it comes to sighing over Kenneth More I’ll join you. And that first glimpse of the sea is still wondrous, isn’t it? Staying on the subject of research, you move some of your characters to London for part of the story. Did this aspect require a different approach? What ‘tools’ did you use?
Your locations – Sea View, Lyons Tea Shop (Margate), Lyons Tea Shop (Ramsgate), the Ramsgate Tunnels – fact or fiction?
Mainly FACT! Both the teashop in Margate and the one in Ramsgate did exist but
now sadly long gone.
Do you recall that during
one of our writing retreats we tracked down the old sign to the Margate teashop
in a back street of Margate? Oh yes, I
remember that! The terrace overlooking the sea is part of a hotel. Nothing
remains of the Ramsgate teashop and the building is now part of a chain of
pubs. I did stand on the pavement in front of the building to get a feel for
the street and look at the view down to the harbour so I am aware of what my
girls could see.
The Ramsgate Tunnels are very real and still exist. They saved the lives of thousands of locals during WW2 when they were used as air raid shelters. It is said that every local was no more than ten minutes
 |
| Courtesy of Ramsgate Tunnels Museum |
from an entrance. Today we are able to visit the tunnels and take part in a guided tour and hear the stories of the war years. I’d recommend every person visit at least once. There is also a 1940s café for anyone needing a cuppa and slice of cake.
Sea View is my invention although is you stroll up Madeira Walk there is a hotel at the top of the road that I adopted as Flora’s guest house. These days it is a hotel and restaurant. I wonder if they realise …?
It isn’t just a sense of place. Your characters are central to your plot and we come to feel we know them personally. You have a large cast. Where do you draw them from?
I start with my main characters and ask myself what kinds of family and friends she would have. I need to get under the skin of my characters to see what makes them tick; this shows me what kind of person they would not like – and that’s when my ‘baddies’ appear. As each book in a series comes along, I won’t drop a character from a previous story as in real life this does not happen. I’m fortunate that my publisher gives me a free hand with my stories and doesn’t ask for a different person to take the main stage in each book. My stories wouldn’t work like that as every character is important and my readers would soon complain. I value my readers and their input will always be important to me.
It seems appropriate that we’re drinking tea while discussing the famous Lyons Tea Shops and Corner Houses. With Butlins, Woolworths and Lyons you have picked iconic settings for your fabulous stories. Can we expect more of the same or do you have another in mind?
Any chance of a second cup? Good idea.
My first series was never meant to feature an iconic workplace as it was just
where the girls worked. Come to that it wasn’t supposed to be a series!
However, such is the heartfelt nostalgia that I continued with another book and
a series was born. By the time The Woolworths Girls was published I’d
already written The Butlins Girls with the setting ideas mainly coming
from my childhood holiday to Warners Holiday Camps and also my maternal grandparents’
links to Billy Butlin’s fairgrounds. The Teashop Girls series stemmed
from my fond thoughts of time spent in Ramsgate and Margate and also visiting
Lyons Corner houses during the 1960s. It was so funny when The Bookseller
labelled me ‘The Queen of the Workplace Saga’ as I’d not given any thought to
my settings. These days I seem to have started a new bandwagon with publishers
and authors jumping on board a new and popular sub-genre. Some of their books
work and some don’t.
Personally, I love a prologue. What makes you use this particular device?
Books always need to start by drawing a reader in on the first page – as I often tell my students! Sagas often don’t as they have gentler starts in the first few pages. That’s why I feel they need a prologue. I like to write a prologue in order for the reader to want more and then read on. Often it is a scene from later in the book that does not give away any spoilers but starts the reader wondering…
My next book, A
Mother Forever does not have a prologue but does have an epilogue. It suits
the story, plus the first pages starts with more of a bang.
2020 has been a very difficult year, almost as if we are also living in a war zone. How have you coped?
Gosh hasn’t it been a year and a half? I like to think I have coped. If anything, I’ve had more time to write and also to consider my future as an author. There are new genres I’d like to try and ‘things’ I’d like to change. I miss going out to meet readers and chat about books.
I’ve also missed going away to the coast, and also seeing friends and running
my classes. Thank goodness we have a very good Facebook page where students
attend online classes, so successes continue. I do know that come the end of the
war on this virus I’ll be very choosy about where I go - and possibly never venture
into London again. I value life more and get very angry at people who don’t
follow guidelines to help stop this horrible virus in its tracks.
I do know I’ll never get off my soap box though!
Finally, if you hadn’t been an author (No, you’re not allowed to stop) what other profession might you have chosen?
A very interesting question!
At different stages of my life there have been career options. As a teenager my
mum suggested working for Warner’s Holiday Camp as a Green Coat. I loved the
idea of entertaining and had always attended dance classes since the age of
three. Sadly, school exams and boyfriends meant I never gave that career choice
another thought.
At the age of sixteen
with a bright future ahead of me I did consider teaching. I attended open days
at teacher training colleges and spoke to the right people about this. It would
have meant staying on at school for a sixth year to gain my A-levels, but my
parents could not afford to support me, even though by then like all girls of
my age I’d taken on a Saturday and holiday job to save. They would not consider
a grant as that was taking charity and they were proud people. Considering the
options and talking to a neighbour who had a high-flying job in London I
decided to look into business courses at Erith College of Technology. The
course I followed back in 1970/71 was called ‘Business Machines and Commerce’
and certainly covered all aspects of what a young woman needed to find a great
job. I left with more qualifications than I’d ever have needed to attend
teacher training college and doubled up on ‘O’ levels for English subjects due
to the college using a different exam board and gained an A level in the
subject as well. Mum was pleased as by the time my exam results came through
and I’d secured that first job she was seriously ill and passed away a couple
of months later.
I wish she’d lived to see me climb the career ladder to work in management then succeed with my writing.
She’d have chuckled to see me gain the required teaching certificate to teach
as well – and to run my own writing school. I like to think she knows. To use an old expression, you’ve done her
proud.
Thank you so much for your interesting questions, Natalie, and taking part in my blog tour.
Elaine xx
It’s always a pleasure, Elaine. I look forward to the next time
Natalie xx
ABOUT CHRISTMAS
WITH THE TEASHOP GIRLS
The
friends return in a moving story of love, bravery and hope set in 1940 – a
guaranteed winter warmer full of festive spirit. Bestseller Elaine Everest is
the author of the much-loved Woolworths Girls saga series.
It’s late
1940 and the war feels closer to home than ever for Rose Neville and her staff
at the Lyon’s Teashop in Margate. The worry of rationing hangs overhead as the
Nippies do their best to provide a happy smile and a hot cup of tea for their
customers. When a bombing raid targets the Kent coastline, Lyon’s is badly hit,
throwing the future of the cafe into jeopardy.
The light in
Rose’s life is her dashing fiancé Captain Ben Hargreaves and she’s busy
planning their Christmas Eve wedding. But she must also plan to take two new
stepdaughters into her life and get on the right side of her wealthy
mother-in-law, Lady Diana. Is Rose ready to become a mother?
When Rose’s
half-sister Eileen makes contact, it seems that Rose’s dreams of having a
sibling are coming true at long last. But her friends begin to suspect that
she’s hiding something… As the wedding draws near, the bombings intensify,
putting everything and everyone Rose loves in danger. Only one thing is for
sure: it will be a Christmas she never forgets . . .
ABOUT
ELAINE EVEREST:
Elaine
Everest is from North West Kent and she grew up listening to stories of the war
years in her home town of Erith, which features in her bestselling Woolworths
Girls series. A former journalist, and author of nonfiction books for dog
owners, Elaine has written over sixty short stories for the women's magazine
market. When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write Place creative writing
school in Hextable, Kent. She lives with her husband, Michael and sheepdog
Henry. You can find out more about Elaine on Twitter @ElaineEverest or Facebook
/elaine.everest
Elaine Everest lives in Kent is available for interviews and to write features.
The Teashop Girls is published by Pan Macmillan on 15th October price £7.99 as paperback original.
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