Why a Booktrail?
1940s: A young woman provides shelter and hope for others but what about her?
Molly’s Christmas Orphans
What you need to know before your trail
1940. Molly Swift, at 27, has already suffered the tragic loss of her two-year-old daughter Emily, to the flu outbreak of 1935. Now she waits for news of her shopkeeper husband Ted, who volunteered at the outbreak of war, for the British Expeditionary Forces.
Molly is intent on running the general store with the help of her retired father, Bill Keen and ex-proprietor of the business. But after the building is hit during a bombing raid and Bill is severly injured, Molly faces difficult times. Alone in the hospital corridor as Bill is treated, Molly tries to keep positive. But the Blitz is well underway and she is forced to take shelter in the hospital’s basement. It’s here, as the bombs fall around docklands, that Molly meets Andy Miller and his two young children, Evie and Mark. An unlikely friendship begins as Molly offers the homeless group safe lodgings for the following night, and soon their lives are entwined, bringing unexpected joy and heartache for them all
Locations
Reset- England - London
- A: Roper St
- B: Roserton St
- C: Chipka St
- D: Westferry Road
- E: Poplar - Chrisp St
Travel Guide
1940s East End London
Set in the east end of London during the second world war the story looks at the nature of the war on people who are just trying to stay alive.
The war time east end spirit shines through as the characters try to make sense of the war around them, the rations and the effects of a war far away on the residents of only one part of London
Swifts General Store in Roper street where Molly Swift runs the store along with her father Bill provides the main setting and it’s the place where people seem to come to heel, especially when Bill has an accident.
War time saga, a life overcoming problems of all kinds and a human spirit from the East End which is what the people here need during these times of hardship
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Molly’s Christmas Orphans
Destination: London Author/Guide: Carol Rivers Departure Time: 1940s
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