I am somewhat obsessed with WW1 so it gives me enormous pleasure to be part of the launch celebrations for The Foyles Bookshop Girls by Elaine Roberts today. My thanks to Melanie Price at Aria for inviting me to take part. I was so sorry I couldn’t squeeze in a review at this time but I am thrilled Elaine has agreed to stay in with me to tell me about The Foyles Bookshop Girls.

Staying in with Elaine Roberts

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Elaine. Thank you so much for agreeing to stay in with me.

Thank you for inviting me. I love sitting out in the garden in the evening, at this time of year, when the days are longer.

Me too. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it? 

I have brought my debut novel The Foyles Bookshop Girls. It’s a World War One family saga, with friendship and love at its core.

(This sounds absolutely wonderful. I wasn’t able to review at the moment but I am desperate to read The Foyles Bookshop Girls because it sounds just my kind of book.)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Foyles Bookshop Girls?

This is the first book of a series and its takes you into the lives of Alice, Victoria and Molly, who have been friends since childhood, despite having very different backgrounds. Readers have said they couldn’t go to bed until they had finished it. One such reader, Kelly, said:

This story drew you in so that you felt part of the family and gave you the need to know what happened next with so much at stake for all of the families involved as their boys go off to war.

So this could be a late night.

(It could indeed. You must be delighted with that response to your writing Elaine.)

What else have you brought along and why?

I’ve brought a pile of second hand books, to remind us how Foyles Bookshop started out. I have included Alice’s favourites,Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days.

(That’s a brilliant selection.)

I’ve also brought some tea leaves, because I do like a decent cup of tea and chocolate cake. The girls loved it, although you’ll have to sit up all night reading, to find out why the cake became so important.

(With tea and chocolate cake on the menu I’ll stay up as long as you like Elaine!)

Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat all about The Foyles Bookshop Girls. I have really enjoyed our evening in  – and the cake!

 The Foyles Bookshop Girls

London, 1914: one ordinary day, three girls arrive for work at London’s renowned Foyles bookshop. But when war with Germany is declared their lives will never be the same again…

Alice has always been the ‘sensible’ one in her family – especially in comparison with her suffrage-supporting sister! But decidedly against her father’s wishes, she accepts a job at Foyles Bookshop; and for bookworm Alice it’s a dream come true. But with the country at war, Alice’s happy world is shattered in an instant.

Determined to do what she can, Alice works in the bookshop by day, and risks her own life driving an ambulance around bomb-ravaged London by night. But however busy she keeps herself, she can’t help but think of the constant danger those she loves are facing on the frontline…

Alice, Victoria and Molly couldn’t be more different and yet they share a friendship that stems back to their childhood – a friendship that provides everyday solace from the tribulations and heartbreak of war.

Published by Aria on 1st June 2018, The Foyles Bookshop Girls is available for purchase from Amazon, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play.

About Elaine Roberts

Elaine Roberts had a dream to write for a living. She completed her first novel in her twenties and received her first very nice rejection. Life then got in the way until she picked up her dream again in 2010. She joined a creative writing class, The Write Place, in 2012 and shortly afterwards had her first short story published.

Elaine and her patient husband, Dave, have five children who have flown the nest. Home is in Dartford, Kent and is always busy with their children, grandchildren, grand dogs and cats visiting.

You can follow Elaine on Twitter @RobertsElaine11, and find her on Facebook. Elaine has an excellent website.

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