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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

She looked up at Ellen as if breaking out of a reverie. ‘We are so lucky,’ she murmured. ‘Just as when we met you and you invited us in, fellow Jews saved us, as you and Harry did. Filip was given work, so he earned money, and I gave birth to Aron and we stayed for a while; we felt we were amongst friends. And then Filip met a man who told him he was going to travel to America. He was a single man and said there was plenty of work and that Jews were welcome.’ She sighed. ‘And Filip, he began to plan that when I was fit to travel and Aron was thriving then we would travel to America too.’

‘Goodness,’ Ellen said, astonished. ‘You are a very patient wife.’

Anna shrugged. ‘What else can I do? Filip is my husband; I must do what he thinks best. He has ambition and wishes to work to keep us in bread and by a warm fire. So we set off again. We left our new friends and travelled to Hamburg, and from there we make our way to Rotterdam and take a ship to England, to Hull.’

‘And so here you are; and are you now resting before the next journey?’ Ellen heard the rattle of the front door and the sound of the children’s excited chattering as they tumbled into the hall and Filip’s booming voice telling them to take off their dirty boots.

Anna’s face lit up into a smile. ‘No! Now I feel that England is home. We are at the end of our journey. After meeting you and your family, I see now that although it will be difficult for a time to earn money, we can settle here. We are not threatened, we are welcomed. I have told Filip that I do not want to travel to America as many of our fellow passengers on the ship did. I want my children to be brought up in England, to speak English.’ She shrugged. ‘Maybe we live in Hull, or maybe we move somewhere else; it is small country, we do not have to travel for weeks to get from one end to other. England is an island.’ She gave a huge smile. ‘Now I tell my husband what I want, and he say yes. So we will be English family now.’

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Harry didn’t arrive home until early afternoon. He had worried throughout the journey, which was wet, cold and uncomfortable, about Ellen’s reaction when she saw that he hadn’t brought Mary back with him. He knew she hadn’t really wanted to let her go, and had only agreed because a day or two in the country would do the little girl good; she hadn’t bargained on not knowing when she would see her daughter again.