Love, life and war in London's East End

Best-selling fiction and non-fiction writer, Kate Thompson, will be the next guest speaker at Molesey Library’s popular series of Author Events. During her visit on Tuesday April 28 2020, Kate will tell us about some of the formidable women living and working in London’s East End before, during and after the War.
Kate, who had worked for 20 years on women’s magazines and national newspapers, published her debut novel Secrets of the Singer Girls in 2015 telling the story of women working together in an East End clothing factory during the Blitz. Bound by ties of friendship, loyalty and family, their lives are thrown into turmoil by the devastating events of the War but their shared experience brings them closer together than they could ever have imagined.
The book rapidly became a Sunday Times bestseller and has recently been optioned for a TV series.
Other sagas of East End life followed and then, in 2018, Kate published her first non-fiction work The Stepney Doorstep Society, drawing on her years of research into East End life and telling the true-life stories of five formidable matriarchs. From confronting the Kray twins, taking over the London Underground and crawling out of bombsites, these women fought to protect their community during some of the country’s darkest hours. The book reached No 1 in Amazon’s history category.
Kates’s latest novel - Secrets of the Homefront Girls - was published in August last year and a further work is also in the pipeline.
Kate currently lives in Sunbury but has an even closer connection to Molesey as her parents live locally.
Please come along and join us on April 28 for what promises to be a lively and entertaining evening - doors open at 7.15 pm. Tickets cost £5 and are available from Molesey Library - PLEASE BUY YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE IF YOU CAN as it is a great help with setting up the room if we know how many people are likely to attend.

Help wanted with Molesey Library coffee mornings

Thanks to our team of very dedicated volunteers we have been able to continue with our Coffee Mornings between 10-12 each Friday.
Staff here at Molesey really value our efforts to run the weekly session as it does make a difference to the footfall and tends to reach out to a different section of our local community. People know there will be a warm welcome and the opportunity to have some lively conversation. It is a real asset.
We were delighted to have one new volunteer this year but in order to continue more volunteers are needed to help out as it can be a struggle when members of the team are either on holiday or not well enough to come along. If you can are interested in becoming a volunteer please get in touch, email pauline.morozgalska@gmail.com

Solving the Murder of Dr Helen Davidson

The Friends of Molesey Library know that crime thrillers and murder mysteries are among our most popular genres of books with local readers. So, we are expecting a lot of interest in our next author event, an evening with the true crime writer Monica Weller.

The date for your diary is Tuesday 25 February, 7pm at Molesey Library in Walton Road. The title of the talk ‘Injured Parties. Solving the Murder of Dr Helen Davidson’ is also the title of Monica’s 2016 book.

In November 1966, popular physician Helen Davidson was battered to death in dense woodland a few miles from her Buckinghamshire home. She had binoculars around her neck, from bird watching and Detective Chief Inspector Jack 'Razor' Williams of Scotland Yard, surmised she had “spied illicit lovers, was spotted, and one or both of them killed her". He had received 50 police commendations in his career, yet not one for a murder case. Unsurprisingly, within weeks the police operation wound
down, Williams retired, and another Cold Case hit the statistics.

However, 50 years later amateur sleuth and author Monica Weller set about solving the murder. As she sifted the fresh evidence, a number of suspects and sinister motives began to emerge. She uncovered secret passions, deep jealousies, unusual relationships, and a victim with a dark past. Finally, her persistence and dedication were dramatically rewarded when she uncovered the identity of the murderer!

Monica previously uncovered fresh evidence about Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, in a book she co-wrote called ‘Ruth Ellis: My Sister's Secret Life’. The talk in February will be an opportunity to find out more about this remarkable author’s life and works. Tickets are £5 on the door or in advance from the Library.

On 28 January the Friends of Molesey Library held our ninth Annual General Meeting. We’re grateful to all the Molesey residents who came along to hear about our efforts to promote and support the Library. We were delighted to welcome Sarah Holding, a leading author in the growing ‘cli-fi’ genre of science fiction inspired by climate change.