BooksBarbecue
Back All the Days of Our Lives Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. All the Days of Our Lives
  2. 1945
  3. 1931-1944
  4. I
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. 1946
  28. II
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. III
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. IV
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. V
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Thirty-Four
  44. Thirty-Five
  45. VI
  46. Thirty-Six
  47. Thirty-Seven
  48. 1948-1949
  49. VII
  50. Thirty-Eight
  51. Thirty-Nine
  52. Forty
  53. VIII
  54. Forty-One
  55. Forty-Two
  56. Forty-Three
  57. IX
  58. Forty-Four
  59. Forty-Five
  60. Forty-Six
  61. X
  62. Forty-Seven
  63. Forty-Eight
  64. Forty-Nine
  65. Fifty
  66. Fifty-One
  67. Fifty-Two
  68. Fifty-Three
  69. Fifty-Four
  70. XI
  71. Fifty-Five
  72. Fifty-Six
  73. XII
  74. Fifty-Seven
  75. Fifty-Eight
  76. XIII
  77. Fifty-Nine
  78. XIV
  79. Sixty
  80. XV
  81. Sixty-One
  82. Sixty-Two
  83. 1953
  84. All the Days of Our Lives

Sybil was at the back door as the three of them slowly walked inside from the garden, which was now all in shadow.

‘Ah,’ she said fondly. ‘Here’s the class from Cromwell Street School!’ As they laughed she said. ‘Go along, girls – leave the men to it for a bit. You can go into the room at the back: you’ll be warmer.’

‘Thank you, Sybil,’ Katie said. ‘It’s been a lovely afternoon.’

‘And thank you, too – it’s been marvellous,’ Sybil agreed.

Katie led her friends inside to sit together in the mellow light of late afternoon, to continue a conversation that she hoped would last, now, for the rest of their lives.

All the Days of Our Lives

ANNIE MURRAY was born in Berkshire and read English at St John’s College, Oxford. Her first ‘Birmingham’ novel, Birmingham Rose, hit The Times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has subsequently written fourteen other successful novels. Annie Murray has four children and lives in Reading. You can visit her website at www.anniemurray.co.uk.

ALSO BY ANNIE MURRAY

Birmingham Rose

Birmingham Friends

Birmingham Blitz

Orphan of Angel Street

Poppy Day

The Narrowboat Girl

Chocolate Girls

Water Gypsies

Miss Purdy’s Class

Family of Women

Where Earth Meets Sky

The Bells of Bournville Green

A Hopscotch Summer

Soldier Girl

Acknowledgements

I drew on a great many sources in preparing this story, but particular thanks are owed to the following:

The Birmingham History Forum, and especially to the Heartlands Local History Society for their welcome and help.

Jane Freebairn at the WRAC Association.

A number of Poles have told me their stories over the years and some, I know, would prefer not to be named. But my particular thanks go to Lubek and Ewa Wruszczak for their friendship and generous gift of their time.

The website describing many of the Polish Resettlement Camps in the UK (www.northwickparkpolishcamp.co.uk) was very helpful, as were a number of excellent books, especially Heart of Europe: A Short History of Poland by Norman Davies, Keeping the Faith: The Polish Community in Britain by Tim Smith and Michelle Winslow, and Worlds Apart by Henry Pavlovich.

First published in Great Britain 2011 by Macmillan

This edition published 2011 by Pan Books

This electronic edition published 2011 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-4472-0364-3 EPUB

Copyright © Annie Murray 2011

The right of Annie Murray to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.