A heart-warming and atmospheric Christmas novella set in the heart of wartime London, from the Queen of East End sagas Jean Fullerton
It's December 1940 and East London is expecting snow. But after months of nightly visits from the Luftwaffe, it will take more than a white Christmas to turn the bombed streets of Stepney festive. Young Eleanor Jolly, newly widowed after her husband stopped a German bullet on Dunkirk beach, is trying to pull through for the sake of her baby James. Her mother-in-law - the deceptively-named Ruby Jolly - isn't helping.
Klaus Wagner is the loneliest German in London. Having narrowly escaped imprisonment by the Gestapo for his work on an anti-fascist newspaper, he signs up for the British armed forces, hoping to save his beloved country from Nazi rule. But the holiday season is making him homesick for the family and friends he left behind.
However, Prue and Fliss Carmichael have a plan to boost morale: a surprise Christmas pantomime. When Ella comes on board, she wasn't expecting to find a German dissenter roped into the cast. Especially not an undeniably handsome German dissenter, with cornflower eyes and a mischievous smile.
Will the Stepney girls rally in time for Christmas and put on a show to rival the air raid sirens? And will Klaus and Ella manage to find a way to each other's hearts before the New Year?
PRAISE FOR JEAN FULLERTON AND A STEPNEY GIRL'S SECRET:
'Enthralling' DILLY COURT
'Heart-warming' ROSIE GOODWIN
'A page-turning read' ELAINE EVEREST
