Constance Street: The true story of one family and one street in London’s East End
Written by Charlie Connelly
Narrated by Leighton Pugh
()
About this audiobook
One forgotten street, 12 unforgettable women.
‘’Ang on boy, Joan’s got sumfink to show yer.’ She rummaged in a drawer for a moment, pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me.
‘Constance Street,’ she said. ‘As I remember it.’
Through the story of one street – Constance Street – we hear the true life tales of a tight knit group of working class women in the East End of London set against a backdrop of war, hardship and struggle.
It’s a story of matriarchy and deep family ties, of a generation that was scattered away from the street during the blitz bombings, but which maintained the ties of that street for decades afterwards.
Set in an area of East London called Silvertown, a once thriving docking community that at the turn of the 20th century was the industrial heartland of the south of England; the story focuses on the lives of 12 incredible women and their struggle to survive amidst the chaos of the war years.
We have Nellie Greenwood, the author’s great grandmother who runs a laundry in Silvertown which becomes the focal point of the community. In 1917 a munitions factory in Silvertown explodes flattening much of the surrounding area and causing extensive damage to Constance Street – Nellie’s daughter is blown from her crib but miraculously survives.
Deciding to open the laundry as a field hospital for the injured, Nellie and the women on the street come together to tend the wounded, the sick and the emotionally shattered as they cope with the aftermath of not just one but two world wars.
Through the Great War, the roaring Twenties, the Depression and then the unimaginable – the outbreak of a second world war – Nellie and the street survive with love, laughter and friendships that bind the community together. But just as this incredible group of women live through the worst, the unthinkable happens. On 7 September 1940, Constance Street is no more.
Following in the footsteps of Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth and The Sugar Girls, Constance Street is a life-affirming, heart-warming read that reminds us of a time when people pulled together.
Related to Constance Street
Related audiobooks
Most Anything You Please: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Nightingale Christmas Carol Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Child of the East End Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Baby Snatchers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Christmas with the Cornish Girls Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Infants of the Brush: A Chimney Sweep's Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Calling WPC Crockford: The Story of a 1950s Police Woman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coin Street Chronicles: London's Vanished Old South Bank Area Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Learnt About Hitler at the Mickey Mouse Club: A Childhood on the Eve of War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDirty Laundry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDistrict Nurse on Call Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Shop Girl's Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEast End Angel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empty Cradles (Oranges and Sunshine) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Foxden Acres: A heart-wrenching and unforgettable World War 2 historical novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Country Nurse: Can East End Nurse Sarah find a new life caring for babies in the country? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Mother’s Hope for the Cornish Girls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSister Kate: Nursing through the Troubles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cornish Captive Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecret Child Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Katy Did Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe District Nurses of Victory Walk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Child is Born Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mistress of Pennington's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heartache at Blackberry Farm: A gripping historical saga from Rosie Clarke Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If The Cap Fits: My Rocky Road to Emmerdale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Was Gertie Ford? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWartime for the District Nurses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Only a Mother Knows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Historical Biographies For You
Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alexander the Great Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A. Lincoln: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bonhoeffer Abridged: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Butch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Goodbye Christopher Robin: A. A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Duchess Countess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Van Gogh: The Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Moveable Feast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Constance Street
0 ratings0 reviews