Most Recommended Books

Track reading, wishlists & new-book alerts

Get
Skip to content
Share:

Elaine Everest Books in Order

See Elaine Everest's books in order, with summaries, series background, and guidance on where to start her Woolworths, Teashop Girls, and related wartime sagas.

Last updated: January 12, 2026

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).

View

Publication Order

Sort:

20 books

New Horizons for the Woolworths Girls

by Elaine Everest

2025

When a bomb destroys the Bexleyheath Woolworths, young assistant Annie helps pull colleagues to safety and is transferred to Erith to start again. There she finds friendship, painful loss and an American soldier, Dean, whose offer of love could carry her far beyond wartime Kent.

The Teashop Girls at War

by Elaine Everest

2024

By 1942 the girls connected to Joe Lyons' teashop are facing new battles. Rose tackles staff shortages and worries about her missing husband, Lily's child's father walks back into her life, and Katie, Flora and Anya must choose between safety, loyalty and the risky hope of happiness.

A Christmas Wish at Woolworths

by Elaine Everest

2024

Christmas 1953 finds the Erith Woolworths branch under threat of closure if it cannot boost December sales. Manager Betty Billington battles staff shortages, a troublesome new employee and her own doubts while organising events and outings that might save both the shop and its community spirit.

The Woolworths Girl's Promise

by Elaine Everest

2023

Seventeen year old Elizabeth 'Betty' Billington is devastated when her fiancé is killed at Ypres and her wealthy parents reject her friendship with working class Charlie Sayers. Moving into the Sayers' home and then onto a job at Woolworths, she rebuilds her life while clinging to one life changing promise.

Celebrations for the Woolworths Girls

by Elaine Everest

2023

In 1952, as the country prepares for a new Queen, the Erith Woolworths store faces internal upheaval. A difficult temporary manager pushes Sarah toward resigning, Ruby supports her ailing friend Vera through an old scandal, and expectant mother Freda fears her husband will miss their baby's arrival.

The Woolworths Saturday Girls

by Elaine Everest

2022

A new generation takes centre stage as the daughters of the original Woolworths girls start Saturday jobs at the Erith store. Bessie, Claudette, Clementine and Dorothy face first love, hard choices and a scandalous pregnancy that will test their friendship and families.

The Patchwork Girls

by Elaine Everest

2021

Recently widowed Helen returns to her mother's home in Biggin Hill just as war looms and her future feels uncertain. Joining a local sewing circle, she finds new friends, purpose and perhaps love, even as painful truths about her husband's death slowly come to light.

A Mother Forever

by Elaine Everest

2021

In 1905, heavily pregnant Ruby Caselton moves her struggling family into a cramped house on Alexandra Road, hoping her unreliable husband Eddie will finally change. As secrets, job losses and then war tear at the street, Ruby builds a community that could save them all.

Wedding Bells for Woolworths

by Elaine Everest

2020

In the summer of 1947, Britain is still rationed but talk of royal engagement brings hope to Erith Woolworths. After a motorbike accident entangles Freda with injured cyclist Anthony and Sarah worries about her marriage, the friends rally to face fresh heartache and new love.

Christmas with the Teashop Girls

by Elaine Everest

2020

At a Lyon's teashop in Margate in late 1940, Rose Neville juggles rationing, bombing raids and a Christmas Eve wedding to her officer fiancé. Taking on two lively stepdaughters and a secretive half sister, she must protect her new family as the war closes in.

The Teashop Girls

by Elaine Everest

2019

Early in 1940, Rose Neville works as a Nippy at a Lyon's teashop on the Kent coast with her best friends Lily and Katie. When a charming army captain begins to call in, Rose must decide whether to obey strict company rules or follow her heart.

Wartime at Woolworths

by Elaine Everest

2018

With the war dragging on, life grows tougher for the Woolworths girls. Maisie feels drawn back toward the family she left behind, Sarah and Alan long for another child despite dark clouds ahead, and Freda returns to Birmingham, risking the safety and friendship she found in Erith.

A Gift from Woolworths

by Elaine Everest

2018

As 1945 approaches, Betty Billington's surprise pregnancy, Freda's new romance with a Scottish engineer and the reappearance of Maisie's dangerous brother all threaten the fragile happiness around the Erith store. The friends cling to one another, hoping peace will finally bring the future they dream of.

The Butlins Girls

by Elaine Everest

2017

After losing her parents and battling grasping relatives, Molly Missons seizes the chance to become a Butlin's Aunty at the Skegness holiday camp. Among new friends and seaside fun, she catches the eye of film star Johnny Johnson and must decide whether to trust this glamorous new life.

Christmas At Woolworths

by Elaine Everest

2017

Back at the Erith store during the early war years, Sarah, Maisie and Freda work hard to make Christmas special while their loved ones serve at the front. Manager Betty Billington believes her chance at romance has passed until a mysterious newcomer makes her question that resolve.

Carols at Woolworths

by Elaine Everest

2017

Determined to forget the war for one evening, Betty, Freda and Sarah organise a Christmas party for the Woolworths staff and customers. When air raid sirens shatter the festivities, the girls must shepherd everyone to safety and somehow keep a spark of seasonal cheer alive underground.

The Woolworths Girls

by Elaine Everest

2016

In 1938, Sarah Caselton starts a job at Woolworths in Erith and quickly bonds with glamorous Maisie and shy Freda. Together they find love, laughter and independence behind the counter, even as the threat of war turns everyday flirtations and friendships into far more dangerous affairs.

Gracie's War

by Elaine Everest

2013

Gracie dreams of a simple, happy future until one reckless night leaves her carrying the wrong man's child just as Britain goes to war. Forced to grow up quickly in north west Kent, she fights for her baby, her reputation and the chance of real love.

Showing Your Dog: A Beginner's Guide

by Elaine Everest

2009

Written for newcomers to the show ring, this handbook walks you through choosing a pedigree puppy, basic training, grooming and what actually happens at a dog show. It covers entering events, travelling with dogs and deciding whether to breed or even become a judge yourself.

Canine Cuisine: How to Cook Tasty Meals and Treats that your Dog Will Enjoy

by Elaine Everest

This practical guide offers more than one hundred recipes for home cooked dog meals and treats, from everyday dinners and training tidbits to special birthday cakes. Aimed at busy owners, it shows how to feed dogs more healthily while still keeping preparation simple.

Where should I start?

If you want to follow the Woolworths saga from the start: The Woolworths GirlsChristmas At WoolworthsWartime at WoolworthsA Gift from WoolworthsWedding Bells for Woolworths.
If you enjoy rich backstory and prequels: A Mother ForeverThe Woolworths Girl's PromiseThe Woolworths Girls.
If seaside teashops and wartime romance appeal: The Teashop GirlsChristmas with the Teashop GirlsThe Teashop Girls at War.
If you prefer standalone home front dramas in Kent: Gracie's WarThe Patchwork GirlsThe Butlins Girls.
If you are here for her dog writing: Canine Cuisine: How to Cook Tasty Meals and Treats that your Dog Will EnjoyShowing Your Dog: A Beginner's Guide.

Author bio

Elaine Everest built a career writing the kind of stories she grew up hearing in north west Kent, turning local memories of shop counters, seaside holidays and wartime streets into warm, character driven sagas.

Born and brought up in the towns around Erith, she never strayed far from the place that inspired her fiction.

As a young woman she even worked in Woolworths herself, an experience that later fed directly into her bestselling Woolworths Girls novels.

Before she was a novelist, Everest spent more than two decades as a freelance writer. She wrote short stories and articles for women's magazines and national newspapers, covering everything from family life to antiques, alongside opinion pieces that often carried a wry sense of humour.

Dogs were a constant thread through that early work. Deeply involved in the dog world as an owner and exhibitor, she turned her practical experience into hands on guides for pet owners, including A New Puppy in the Family, Showing Your Dog: A Beginner's Guide and Canine Cuisine: How to Cook Tasty Meals and Treats that your Dog Will Enjoy. Those books led to regular radio appearances where she talked about canine behaviour, responsible ownership and the odd domestic mishap.

Her first published novel, Gracie's War, took readers back to north west Kent during the Second World War and introduced many of the themes that would define her fiction, from ordinary women facing extraordinary choices to the way a close knit community can both comfort and constrain.

In 2016 she returned to those streets with The Woolworths Girls, following three young women working behind the counter of the Erith Woolworths store as war loomed. The novel became an instant success, selling more than 100,000 copies and growing into a long running series that would eventually span prequels, wartime instalments and postwar stories set into the 1950s. Across the Woolworths books and later series such as The Teashop Girls, The Butlins Girls and The Patchwork Girls, Everest showed a clear affection for working women, found families and small acts of courage.

Alongside her own writing she spent many years teaching others. Everest ran The Write Place, a creative writing school based at The Howard Venue in Hextable, Kent, where she taught adult classes, organised workshops and quietly championed new voices. Many of her students went on to secure publishing deals of their own, something she counted as one of her proudest achievements.

Everest was also an active member of the writing community. She belonged to the Romantic Novelists' Association, the Crime Writers' Association, the Society of Women Writers & Journalists and the Society of Authors, and for a time helped to run social media and conference appointments for the RNA.

At home she lived in Swanley, Kent, with her husband, Michael, and their much loved Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Henry. Friends and readers often mention her warmth, dry wit and the way she could move from talking about wartime rationing to laughing about sitting in the 'naughty corner' at Slimming World without missing a beat.

Elaine Everest continued writing into her seventies, working on new stories even as her final Woolworths novel, New Horizons for the Woolworths Girls, moved toward publication. She died in August 2024, but the world she created for her shop girls, teashop waitresses and Kent families remains very much alive on the page.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

Comments

Did we miss something? Have feedback?

Help us improve this page by sharing your thoughts

We only use your email to notify you about replies.

All comments are moderated.

Discover and track your reading on the go

Track your reading, manage wishlists, and get notified when new books are added.

All 20 Elaine Everest Books in Order (Complete List 2026)