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Back A Place to Call Home
Chapters (59)
  1. Cover
  2. ABOUT THE BOOK
  3. Dedication
  4. PREFACE
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY
  55. ENDING
  56. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  57. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  58. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  59. Also by Val Wood

Harry had been quiet when he returned from staying with his parents and murmured to Ellen that his mother hadn’t known him, and wanted to know why he was staying in their house. He’d stayed up late talking to his father and his sister Meg, who was spending most of her time with her mother and felt she was neglecting her own family. Not that they grumbled, she was quick to say, and she always brought her two youngest children, who were not yet at school, so that her mother could chat to them.

‘I don’t know what I can do,’ he told Ellen. ‘Not now that we’re so far away. It’s all falling on Meg, though it seems ’rest of my sisters are planning a rota to tek it in turns to be wi’ Ma whilst Da is at work.’

‘It’s a blessing we’re both from large families,’ Ellen said. ‘What do you think, Ma? What do you think is ’best solution?’

‘I reckon it’s best as Harry’s sisters are planning; they need to tek it in turns to be there so that she doesn’t wander off. And neighbours will watch out for her; I will for one. If any of yon lasses aren’t able to come over to stop wi’ her then she can come to my house if somebody will fetch her. She’ll be happy to sit by my fire, or mebbe peel a few taties, and we can mix and bake a few scones together. She’ll feel useful then.’

‘Would you, Mrs Snowden?’ Harry’s face lightened.

‘Course I will. What were we saying last night about human decency?’ She didn’t speak for a moment, and then said in a tight voice, ‘Besides, she and I were girls together and we can mebbe talk about old times.’

‘She’s lost a lot of her memory,’ Harry reminded her.

Mrs Snowden shook her head. ‘Not for ’past she won’t have; onny for ’present. I’ll tell our Billy to ask Meg to call on me and we’ll work summat out between us.’

Harry had done as he’d promised himself whilst in Holderness and washed and trimmed the mare’s fetlocks and teased out the tangles and knots. Then he’d brushed her mane and coat. When they arrived in Hull he took Ellen and the children home, made a fire with some of the wood the Snowden men had collected for them, and drove back to the mill yard.