‘Re your question about Aggie Brown not writing to you, Queenie. I had a word with her mum and Mabel said she’s not much of a letter writer and has made friends with some girls her own age where she is staying. It is very rude of Aggie not to reply to yours though, I must say. The ignorant little cow!

‘Please thank Mr and Mrs Briggs again from me for looking after you and feeding you so well. I bet I won’t recognize the pair of you when I see you, what with all that country air and wonderful grub you’re eating.

‘Dad and Aunt Edna both send their love, girls. Keep your chins up. You’re both doing brilliantly and I’m so very proud of you. Love always, Mum.’

Viv smiled. ‘Can I look at the letter now?’ Both girls’ biggest fear was that one day their mother wouldn’t write back to them because she was dead.

Queenie handed the letter to Viv and winced. She had woken up with a bad belly ache and it seemed to be getting worse. ‘Viv, do me a favour once you’ve read your letters: go down for breakfast and tell Betty I’m not feeling hungry this morning.’

When her sister left the room, Queenie read her letters from Aunt Edna and Mrs O’Leary, then curled up in a foetal position and held her aching stomach. She’d eaten the same as Viv yesterday, so it couldn’t be food poisoning. Perhaps she had caught a bug? But she hadn’t really been out anywhere.

Wishing she was at home so her mum could look after her, Queenie quickly reminded herself how lucky she and Viv had been. From the moment they’d met Betty and John Briggs, the couple had been extremely kind to them.

It had felt odd spending her fourteenth birthday and then Christmas with the Briggs, especially when Betty and John’s sons had turned up on Christmas Day with their wives and kids. Both Queenie and Viv had felt they didn’t belong there that day, but they’d put on brave faces and pretended to be jolly before excusing themselves and going to bed early.

The bedroom they shared was nice, bigger than their bedroom at home. It had pretty patterned curtains and oak furniture. They even had a proper wardrobe in which to hang up the small amount of clothes they’d brought with them. Their mum sent them money in the post to buy anything new they needed. Viv’s feet had recently got too big for her shoes, so Mrs Briggs had taken them to a shop to buy some new ones.

Mr and Mrs Briggs were generous too. The farm was ever so cold and muddy in the winter, so they’d brought her and Viv Wellington boots and trousers. Queenie had never worn trousers at home, her mum said only boys wore them, and it felt weird at first. They were far more practical though, for roaming across the fields on the farm.