[Molly Swift 01] • Molly's Christmas Orphans

JUNE 1940, EAST LONDON.

Eastender Molly Swift, at 27, has already suffered the tragic loss of her two year old daughter Emily, to the flu outbreak of 1935. Now she waits for news of her shopkeeper husband Ted, who volunteered at the outbreak of war, for the British Expeditionary Forces.

Molly, intent on running the general store with the help of her retired father, Bill Keen and ex-proprietor of the business, listens to the wireless broadcasts on the D Day landings. But Ted perishes, leaving Molly a widow, her only source of income, the store they had built up together.

The East End is soon subject to a horrific blitz by the Luftwaffe and unprepared for the vicious aerial attack on London timed to coincide with the tidal low point of the River Thames. Water mains are severed by the unloading of 10,000 fire bombs on the city. Swift’s General Store in Roper Street falls victim to a fierce explosion. Will Molly and her father survive the impact and is tragedy once again looming large in valiant Molly’s life?