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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

‘Aye, mebbe I am, but I have my pride, and we’ll see if he meks any offer. He might even be peeved that I’m leaving before I said I would, but ’new foreman will be pleased to have ’cottage, I expect.’

Ellen looked round at the cosy room with the flickering firelight and the warm welcoming glow of the lamp. ‘Anybody would be,’ she said with a catch in her voice. ‘They’d be fools not to.’

As soon as Harry had gone out to see Billy, she opened the cupboard doors and took out her few pans. She took out her cutlery too, but on second thoughts she put that back again. They had to eat and therefore needed knives and forks. She could manage with one pan for three days. She began to think that perhaps she should prepare and cook food to take with them, for she didn’t know what facilities there would be; she’d forgotten to ask Harry if there was a fireplace or a range for cooking.

When she and Harry had come here after their wedding they had had nothing except what they had been given. Harry’s mother had provided them with a pair of sheets and pillow covers, and then her mother did the same, and offered two chairs that she no longer needed. Ellen had made curtains from material she had found in her mother’s cupboard, and she looked at them now. They were heavy and still serviceable and kept out draughts, and she thought that she would take them, along with everything else they possessed. It still wouldn’t fill a cart, and the new family who were coming here would undoubtedly bring their own goods and chattels.

By the time Harry arrived home again she had sorted everything from the downstairs cupboards into piles ready to pack. Harry said that he and Billy had been loaned a small wagon for free and that Billy would drive it to Hull and back for them.

The next morning they were both up earlier than usual; Harry to tell Charlesworth they would be gone by Saturday morning, and also to finish off a few jobs around the farm. What he was really doing was taking his leave of the workplace where he had spent so many happy years; but it had changed since Ozzie had died and the heart had gone out of it for him.