Why a Booktrail?
1905: Will Ellie-May and Jack find their way back to each other before it’s too late?
The Shop Girl’s Soldier
What you need to know before your trail
Ellie-May and Jack have been inseparable since birth. They are best friends, having grown up together on the same street. But when Jack and his mother fall on hard times they are thrown into the workhouse, and he and Ellie-May are forced into a goodbye.
Four years later, now aged sixteen, Jack returns to Southampton and is reunited with Ellie-May. Quickly they both realise that their feelings for each other go beyond friendship, and with Jack home for good the pair are finally free to be together. But when WWII approaches, Jack’s duty to his country is hard to ignore and when he enlists to fight, they are once again torn apart.
Will Ellie-May and Jack find their way back to each other before it’s too late?
Locations
Reset- England - Southampton
- A: Southampton Port
- B: Church St
- C: Saint Mary's Church
- D: Southampton central station
- E: Southampton Common
Travel Guide
Travel back to 1900s Southampton BookTrail style
Southampton is a port city on England’s south coast. It’s home to the SeaCity Museum, with an interactive model of the Titanic, which departed from Southampton in 1912.
War time Southampton
Solent Sky Museum features vintage aircraft like the iconic Spitfire. Tudor House & Garden displays artifacts covering over 800 years of history, including a penny-farthing bike.
In the novel, the war is announced early on and the story looks at the way men were called up and woman were left behind. It’s a story of how childhood friends can return to a place and see how it, and each other, have changed over the intervening years.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Shop Girl’s Soldier
Destination/location: Southampton Author/guide: Karen Dickson Departure Time: 1905
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