The Shipyard Girls

Author/Guide: Nancy Revell

Why a Booktrail?

1940s: Women go to the shipyards to do their bit for the war effort.

ISBN: 978-1784754631
Genre: Historical, Sagas

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What you need to know before your trail

Polly never dreamed she would be able to work in the shipyards like the men in her family but times are tough and her new job ends up giving her more than she ever expected when she meets enigmatic dock diver Tommy Watts.

During the day, head welder Rosie teaches her fledgling flock of trainees their new trade, but at night she hides a secret life.

And mother hen Gloria signs up to escape her brutal husband, but finds she cannot run from her problems.

Locations

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Travel Guide

Sunderland shipyards

The shipyard in the book is called J L Thompson and Sons and there were several along the River Wear. Where the shipyard once stood is The National Glass Centre which is constructed solely from glass and steel

Look into the museum where the author carried out some of her research – sunderland-museum-winter-gardens

The author says:

A tribute must be made to the amazing women who workd in the shipyards during WW2, whose strength and resilience, and the invaluable part they played in the building and repairing of ships has never been formally recognised or commended.

The author researched the book with the help of a former female shipyard worker, Joan Tate, and her daughter Pam Tate. The life of those living across the UK during the bombings was horrendous and is evoked here with bleak clarity:

“Hitler’s Luftwaffe had only ever visited their town at night. So far, every single air raid warning had been during darkness. So far, every single air raid warning had been during darkness.

The first bombs had been dropped eight weeks before , killing two horses and obliterating a barn in the nearby fishing village of Whitburn. The second attack had damaged the town’s railway bridge and one of the shipyards, and the third had left a deep crater in the town’s east end, just a few streets away from the Elliot’s home”
The author mentions in the novel that she researched her novel carefully and consulted the Sunderland Antiquarian Society, Sunderland MaritimeHeritage , the Sunderland Echo and Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens