The East End Girls: Book 2
Publication Date: November 21, 2025
East London, 1942: With the war still raging, can the East End Girls help bring comfort and joy to their friends and neighbours this Christmas?
Christmas is coming, and Alice Starling is trying hard to get into the festive spirit. Two years ago, she lost her beloved husband at Dunkirk, and it feels like a piece of her heart will always be missing.
With almost nightly raids on London, all Alice can think about is her important work defending the city with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force until, on a rare night out with her friends Nell, George and Maeve, she encounters US Army Lieutenant Brogan Rafferty. Sparks fly at their first meeting, and when Alice walks away, she isn’t sure whether the brown-eyed soldier was infuriatingly handsome or just plain infuriating…
But when Brogan volunteers to help to drum up rations and decorations for the Christmas party for local families that Alice and her friends are organising, she begins to warm to the smooth-talking American. There’s a kindness in his smile as he plays with the children who have lost everything in the Blitz that has her wondering if there might be more to this man than meets the eye…
Their relationship deepens as they spend more time together, and Alice begins to hope with all her heart for a future with Brogan. But as sirens wail over the city on Christmas Eve, they are separated in the rush for the air raid shelters. When the dust clears, will they find their way back to each other and their happy ending?
An utterly gorgeous and heartbreaking festive wartime saga about love, courage and friendship. Fans of Katie Flynn, Rosie Goodwin and Lizzie Lane won’t be able to stop turning the pages!
Alice Starling may have been widowed at 24, but she’s determined to do her part during World War II. Three years later, she and her friends serve as barrage balloon operatives.
Author Jean Fullerton serves up a holiday-themed historical romance in Winter Wishes for the East End Girls. The first time Alice encounters Lt. Brogan Rafferty doesn’t leave a favorable impression.
The author illustrates how American GIs were seen as potential targets by British women seeking to hustle them. As the story progresses, Brogan volunteers to help with a community party being organized by Alice and her friends.
Will Alice and Brogan get a chance at happiness, or will the war claim more victims? As the second installment of the East End Girls series, the story continues to develop all five of the female characters while focusing on Alice.
Winter Wishes for the East End Girls combines holiday festivities with an unexpected romance during World War II.
Born and bred in East London, Jean was a District Nurse by trade working throughout East London. She has published twenty-three sagas, including the popular World War Two Ration Book series, which, like all her books, is set in East London. Jean has also written her autobiography A Child of the East End, about growing up in post-war Stepney and Wapping. She is currently working on first book of her new four book WW2 series.
