At the last minute, it looked as though Mutti wouldn’t be able to go. Dad was moaning and she pulled a face at the girls and said she should probably stay at home. Dad was poorly. He was always poorly, when he didn’t like the thought of her going out. In the end, though, Maggie and Vi had persuaded her to come.

‘Very well,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll face the consequences later!’

Maggie loved the way Mutti said ‘conse-qvences’. It was a word she could never quite master but still insisted on using. Probably because she knew it made Maggie and Violet laugh.

They took a knapsack of sandwiches wrapped in greaseproof paper and chatted excitedly on the train, all the way to the coast. The gas masks on their laps were the only hint of what might be to come but, on that day, they couldn’t even imagine it. The world, with its bright sunshine reflected in everyone’s happy smiles, seemed like a perfect place that nothing could ever spoil.

It had been good to get away for a day, to escape the tension-filled house and the news on the wireless. Dad listened to it constantly, shaking his head and forecasting the end of the world.

When they arrived at the little seaside station, they climbed down onto the platform, waved goodbye to the others and walked quickly down to the beach. They didn’t want to be lumbered with anyone else.

The sun beat down, they were grateful for their hats and they cooled their feet with a paddle in the sea. The water was freezing and when a particularly large wave caught them out and soaked the hems of their dresses, they ran screaming and laughing back up the beach.

They flopped down on the hot sand, put their faces up to the sun and basked in the warmth. In no time, their cotton dresses were dry again. They folded up their cardigans, put them under their heads for pillows and lay back, listening to the rhythmic swish and pull of the waves on the shore.

Mutti loved the beach; it reminded her of home. She didn’t speak much about where she’d grown up, in North Germany, but Maggie knew it was on the coast, with miles of golden sand. No wonder an occasional flash of sadness passed across Mutti’s face that day; she’d given up a lot to marry their father.

After a while, Violet could lie still no longer. She started to do handstands and cartwheels on the sand. Then something caught her eye.

‘Look!’ she called out. ‘Donkeys!’