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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

‘That’s ’reason I’m not going. Canada is a big country and there are plenty of jobs there if you’re prepared to work, and I am. Not yet, I’ve not saved enough, but soon.’ He looked at Harry. ‘You could come wi’ me, you and our Ellen and your bairns; we could fill Canada wi’ Yorkshire folk.’

Harry laughed. ‘It felt as if we were coming to ’ends of earth coming to Hull,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I could cope wi’ leaving England.’

Sarah looked up from her drawing when she heard the rattle of the cart outside and lifted the net curtain. ‘It’s our da,’ she squealed, ‘and Uncle Billy,’ and made a dash for the door. The other children looked up but didn’t get up from the rug, not even Thomas, who was absorbed in crayoning squiggles on a sheet of paper.

Ellen drew back the bolt and put her head out of the door to greet them; she was still hoping that Mary would have come back with them, but as Harry and Billy walked towards her her smile disappeared.

‘No Mary? Is she worse?’

Harry bent to kiss her cheek. ‘I let her stay,’ he murmured. ‘I thought it for ’best; she was still coughing this morning. Your ma has rubbed her chest wi’ camphor and put a piece of red flannel under her frock. Your Lizzie said she’ll ask ’doctor to call if she doesn’t improve.’

‘Lizzie,’ Ellen breathed. Lizzie who hadn’t any children even though she had been married longer than Ellen. She had had a miscarriage in her second year of marriage but nothing since. She can’t have my child, Ellen thought. But Lizzie would make a good mother; she was caring and kind and loved all of her sisters’ children very much. Oh, I’m being silly, and I know it’s for the best. Harry did right. But he must fetch her back the minute she’s better.

‘Well!’ Billy folded his arms as he saw the Bosco children and Thomas on the rug in front of the fire and Aron sleeping on one of the beds. ‘Surely there are more than there were yesterday?’

‘The Bosco children,’ Ellen murmured. ‘Filip and Anna have gone to look at this other house they’ve been offered.’ She was still thinking about Mary. ‘I said I’d keep ’children here. They’ll be back soon.’ She turned to Harry. ‘How was your ma?’