The Foyles Bookshop Girls at War is by Elaine Roberts. This book takes place in London, England in 1916 during the Great War. During the War, there were many new working positions open to women which hadn’t been open before. For instance, Lily and Daisy had joined the police department. This definitely had not been open before the War. Many women had gone to work in factories where to date, only men were hired, such as munitions and ship building. Things were getting hard as the economy caused food prices to rise as food shortages began. Many shops closed for lack of needed supplies. Women began redoing their clothes instead of purchasing new ones which were harder to find and cost a great deal more. Thus, it was not unusual for young women to work, even married women. Thus, were the girls who worked at Foyles.
Foyles Bookshop managed to keep its doors open as reading became a pastime for many who had previously been entertained in other ways. Foyles had a policy of buying back your books and did a lot of business in its secondhand book collection. So, Mr. Leadbetter was able to continue to employ Mary, Victoria, and Alice. The three had been friends for a long time and did spend some time while working in gossip. However, they also did their jobs in a friendly way. Victoria was no longer supporting her younger brother and sister; but keeping the house for Daisy, who was a police officer, and Stephen, who was in the army. She waited patiently for Stephen’s letters and hoped that one day, she would have her own family. Alice met and married her husband while at the bookstore. He was in the army and left her pregnant. She was raising their son with the help of her friends and her family. Mary lived at home with her parents and grandmother. She had fallen in love with Tony and pressured him to join the army when the other men did. Unfortunately, Tony died under fire and Mary was left feeling guilty for pressuring him. Victoria and Alice worked second jobs volunteering to help the war effort. Other than gathering books and taking them to the hospitals, Mary had yet to find her volunteer job. She began to feel guilty for not doing as much for the war effort as others, so she decided to become a “canary” and work in the munitions factory. Her friends tried to dissuade her from doing this; but failed.
So, Mary quit her job at Foyle’s and took on a job at the factory. This meant she had to leave home at 5:30 and cycle across town to the factory. She did not tell her parents she had changed jobs; but told them she was working longer hours at Foyle’s. This put her friends in a sticky situation when they visited. Mary was not totally accepted in the factory. She was seen as “too upper class” to dirty her hands here. The other girls at the factory expected her to quit after trying it a day. Grace, the girl who was to train her, was especially jealous as she thought Mr. Greenwood was attracted to Mary. However, she and Flo helped Mary get started. It was hard work and long hours; but Mary persisted.
Will Mary continue her job at the factory or will she finally give up and return to Foyles? Will she ever tell her parents about the job change?
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