It’s publication day for MRS BOOTS OF PELHAM STREET, book 2 in the Mrs Boots series. Mrs Boots (book 1) covered one year from 1885 and is set solely in Jersey, where Florence (and I) were born. It tells the story of Jesse Boot coming to the island to recuperate after a complete breakdown, meeting a young shop assistant 13 years his junior and falling in love with her. Florence Rowe was a 23-year-old independent woman with no intention of getting married. She was modern, loved fashion and music and very different to the workaholic, Jesse.
Book 2 begins in 1892 with the married couple about to welcome their third child into their family. I began the book at this point in their lives because it’s when their Pelham Street branch opened. This store was their flagship store and the first one that Florence was able to make her mark on. Her innovative ideas, electric lighting, selling items that would appeal to women and her Boots Book-Lovers’ Library, was the beginning of Boots the Chemist becoming the stores and empire we know today. This book ends in 1907. I hope you enjoy reading it.
The third book in the series, Mrs Boots Goes To War has been confirmed and I’ll be writing that one as soon as I’ve finished An Island At War. More about that coming soon…
