The Widow Ginger: A heart-warming and upliftingly funny saga from the East End

Written with all of Pip Granger's warmth, humour, compassion and 1950's authenticity, a second 'Rosie' novel, and a follow-up to Not All Tarts Are Apple. Perfect for fans of Donna Douglas and Nancy Revell, a feel-good, colourful and comic saga set in post war London from Sunday Times bestseller Pip Granger. "Packed with sharp authentic detail, this tale told through a child's eyes brings to life a colourful world of great characters from a bygone age." -- HOME & COUNTRY "Loved this book. Could not put it down, read it in two sittings..." -- ***** Reader review "I enjoyed every minute of it and was sad when I finished it..." -- ***** Reader review *********************************** ALL WAS CALM AND NORMAL...UNTIL A STRANGER CAME INTO TOWN... 1954, Soho, London. Rosie, and her beloved Auntie Maggie are opening up their cafe in Old Compton Street for Uncle Bert's breakfast special when the Widow Ginger comes to call. The Widow Ginger, an ex-GI with ice-cold blue eyes, is especially scary. He has unfinished business with Uncle Bert- business that includes being cheated on his share of a 'liberated' lorry-load of guns and explosives during the War - and he intends to make sure he now gets paid in full. And this isn't all- the lovely Luigi appears to be suffering from a severe case of unrequited lust; Bert and the local Mafioso Maltese Joe have had an acrimonious falling-out; and, most worrying of all, Rosie's best friend Jenny has begun to keel over mysteriously in the school playground.... The Widow Ginger continues Rosie's story (started in Not All Tarts Are Apples) and paints a picture of 1950s Soho so authentic you feel as though you are there...

Table of Contents:
It is 1954, the year Roger Bannister won the four-minute mile. Rosie, and her beloved Auntie Maggie are opening up their cafe in Old Compton Street for Uncle Bert's breakfast special when the Widow Ginger comes to call. The Widow Ginger, an ex-GI with ice-cold blue eyes, is especially scary. He has unfinished business with Uncle Bert - business that includes being cheated on his share of a 'liberated' lorry-load of guns and explosives during the War - and he intends to make sure he now gets paid in full. And this isn't all: the lovely Luigi appears to be suffering from a severe case of unrequited lust; Bert and the local Mafioso Maltese Joe have had an acrimonious falling-out; and, most worrying of all, Rosie's best friend Jenny has begun to keel over mysteriously in the school playground. With a cast of colourful characters with wonderful names like Sugar Plum Flaherty and Bandy Bunion, Soho streets so authentic you can lean out and touch them, and a story that will make you laugh and cry, The Widow Ginger is another heart-warming novel that will establish Pip as the queen of London saga-writers.

About the Author :
Part of Pip Granger's early childhood was spent in the back seat of a light aircraft as her father smuggled brandy, tobacco and books across the English Channel to be sold in 1950s Soho, where she lived above the Two Is Cafe in Old Compton Street. She travelled in Europe and Asia in the 1960s and '70s, and worked as a Special Needs teacher in Hackney in the 1980s, before quitting teaching to pursue her long-cherished ambition to write. She now lives in the West Country with her husband and pets. Pip Granger's novels, Not All Tarts Are Apple, which won the Harry Bowling Prize for fiction, The Widow Ginger, and Trouble in Paradise are all available as Corgi paperbacks.

Review :
'Packed with sharp authentic detail, this tale told through a child's eyes brings to life a colourful world of great characters from a bygone age.' 'A carnival atmosphere that's tinged with a little sadness.' 'Celebrates the colourful characters and atmosphere of 1950s Soho, where this queen of London saga-writers grew up.' 'A colourful, deeply nostalgic evocation of Soho in the Fifties, drawing heavily on the author's own childhood.'