Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • A Store at War

  • The Shop Girls, Book 1
  • By: Joanna Toye
  • Narrated by: Olivia Dowd
  • Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (15 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

A Store at War

By: Joanna Toye
Narrated by: Olivia Dowd
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

It’s 1941 and as the air raid sirens blare, Lily Collins is starting work in Midlands department store Marlow’s.

She learns the ropes from her sophisticated boss Miss Frobisher alongside shy fellow junior Gladys. But her friendship with young salesman Jim draws her into a swirl of secrets. And with the war progressing to crisis point, Cedric Marlow and his staff must battle nightly bombings and the absence of loved ones to keep going.

A Store at War weaves together a strong sense of community with a vivid evocation of a time when every man, woman and child was doing their bit.

©2019 Joanna Toye (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Tobacco Girls cover art
New Neighbours for Coronation Close cover art
Wartime with the Cornish Girls cover art
The Three Sisters of Victory Walk cover art
A Mother's Journey cover art
The Nightingale Girls cover art
The Midwives' War cover art
The Rose Queen cover art
The Bluebird Girls cover art
War Clouds Over Blackberry Farm cover art
The Wartime Singers cover art
A Valley Dream cover art
The Shop Girls of Harpers cover art
The Jam Factory Girls cover art
The Post Office Girls cover art
The War Girls of Goodwill House cover art

Critic reviews

"Jo writes with a sure hand and a light touch... It's a real page-turner with a spirited heroine who will worm her way into readers' hearts. A sparkling new voice in fiction." (Veronica Henry)

"Cheerful and uplifting...I enjoyed it immensely." (Katie Fforde)

"Highly recommended - an engrossing story with a charmingly forthright heroine." (Anna Jacobs)

What listeners say about A Store at War

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Easygoing read

This is a good story but it was lacking excitement and drama and did not grip me as other books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Please teach narrators pronunciation

The story was clean and simple - not much intricacy about it, but am easy, unchallenging listen. What irked was the fact that the narrator clearly didn’t have a big vocabulary and many ordinary words were consistently and irritatingly mispronounced. From Frobisher - a fairly common name, but said with a short ‘o’ to reputed, the repeated errors grated. Can’t performers be coached before unfamiliar names are recorded please?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Simple but pleasing

A pleasing little story though not very memorable. Very much setting the scene for later stories. I have to agree with one other reviewer that the narrator’s mispronunciation of certain words, E.g. reputable, strategist, was irritating. Doesn’t anyone edit these recordings any more as they are being made?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Dull, Dull, Dull

So dull - kept waiting for it to get better or at least to have a decent twist, but never came!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!