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Back After the War Save as PDF
Chapters (74)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Also by Anita Frank
  5. Note to Readers
  6. Dedication
  7. Part One
  8. Chapter One
  9. Chapter Two
  10. Chapter Three
  11. Chapter Four
  12. Chapter Five
  13. Chapter Six
  14. Chapter Seven
  15. Chapter Eight
  16. Chapter Nine
  17. Chapter Ten
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. Chapter Twenty-Five
  33. Chapter Twenty-Six
  34. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Part Two
  49. Chapter Forty-One
  50. Chapter Forty-Two
  51. Chapter Forty-Three
  52. Chapter Forty-Four
  53. Chapter Forty-Five
  54. Chapter Forty-Six
  55. Chapter Forty-Seven
  56. Chapter Forty-Eight
  57. Chapter Forty-Nine
  58. Chapter Fifty
  59. Chapter Fifty-One
  60. Chapter Fifty-Two
  61. Chapter Fifty-Three
  62. Chapter Fifty-Four
  63. Chapter Fifty-Five
  64. Chapter Fifty-Six
  65. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  66. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  67. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  68. Chapter Sixty
  69. Acknowledgements
  70. Extract
  71. Chapter One
  72. Chapter Two
  73. Chapter Three
  74. About the Publisher

‘I can do that …’ Jack offers, but she merely huffs. He feels the scald of her resentment and, unsure how to appease her, he remains silent. Instead, he tries to win favour by using his initiative. He tucks the feather pillow into the folded case he spies sitting on top of the linen pile. Muriel’s eyebrows lift, as she takes another sheet to the bed.

‘How long do you intend to stay?’ she bites out at last.

Careful to ensure he is not in her way he places the pillow at the head of the bed. ‘I don’t know. For as long as they’ll have me, I suppose.’

She pulls a face as she unfolds a coarse woollen blanket and lays it upon the folded-down top sheet. Jack thanks her quietly as she finishes smoothing it in place.

‘There’s logs for the stove in the store up by the house. Dinner is at six. You know where the privy is?’

Jack has already spotted the outdoor convenience, set away from the house at the end of the garden, a fair trek in the dark.

‘When you come back to the house, I’ll give you some candles and a box of matches. There’s probably a spare paraffin lantern you can have too,’ she says, reading his mind. She brushes down the front of her housecoat, as if reluctant to take the grubbiness of the tack room back with her. She turns to leave but, with her hand on the door, she pauses. She twists round to face him. ‘They are good people. Kind. Trusting. Don’t you take advantage of that.’

Having delivered her message in no uncertain terms, she leaves him to settle in.

Chapter Twelve

Jack

June 1939

He is not to be trusted yet with the milking.

‘We’ll break you in gently,’ Jim had told him the night before. ‘I’ll get you started on some general chores after you’ve had your breakfast. I’ll make sure you’re up in time to enjoy a good feed.’

True to his word, the farmer taps on the tack room window around seven the next morning, after he has driven the milked herd back to pasture. Jack is already waiting. The sound of cattle shuffling towards the parlour had woken him just after dawn. Stiff from the unrelenting camp bed, he had pulled on his trousers and buttoned his shirt, before heading from the stables to avail himself of the privy, taking the ewer with him. On his way back, he had filled the chipped jug at the cast iron pump that stands at the edge of the yard, the pump handle creaking with every lift and thrust.