• The Sugar Girls

  • Tales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle’s East End
  • By: Duncan Barrett, Nuala Calvi
  • Narrated by: Penny McDonald
  • Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Sugar Girls  By  cover art

The Sugar Girls

By: Duncan Barrett, Nuala Calvi
Narrated by: Penny McDonald
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.67

Buy for $24.67

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Tales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle’s East End Factories. On an autumn day in 1944, Ethel Alleyne walked the short distance from her house to Tate & Lyle’s refinery on the shining curve of the Thames. Looking up at the giant gates, Ethel felt like she had been preparing for this moment all her life. She smoothed down her frizzy hair, scraped a bit of dirt off the corner of her shoe and strode through. She was quite unprepared for the sight that met her eyes …’In the years leading up to and after the Second World War thousands of women left school at fourteen to work in the bustling factories of London’s East End.

Despite long hours, hard and often hazardous work, factory life afforded exciting opportunities for independence, friendship and romance. Of all the factories that lined the docks, it was at Tate and Lyle’s where you could earn the most generous wages and enjoy the best social life, and it was here where The Sugar Girls worked. Through the Blitz and on through the years of rationing The Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but Tate & Lyle was more than just a factory, it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of the East End. From young Ethel to love-worn Lillian, irrepressible Gladys to Miss Smith who tries to keep a workforce of flirtatious young men and women on the straight and narrow, this is an evocative, moving story of hunger, hardship and happiness. Tales of adversity, resilience and youthful high spirits are woven together to provide a moving insight into a lost way of life, as well as a timeless testament to the experience of being young and female.

©2012 Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

What listeners say about The Sugar Girls

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

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

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

Great non-fiction book.

Focuses on the lives of several young women who all worked at a London sugar factory in the 1940’s and follows them through their lives. Even though there is loss and distress, especially during the war years, this is generally a feel-good book. Highly recommend.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

An ifascinating snaoshot

A snapshot of a lifestyle now gone. The individual stories snd characters are lifelike and make you feel as if you have stepped into another time and really experienced their joys snd troubles both at work and in their personal life. I found the details about the running of the factory one of the best parts of the book - so different from the way things are done now.

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

If you like Call The Midwife

This story centers around the lives of the girls and women that worked in the sugar plant in London mainly during world war 2. I love it and it fits right in perfectly with the time spans of Call the Midwife. the characters are well developed and you fall in love with them and enjoy reading about their lives and loves. Highly recommend this tale for anyone that loves British history.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!