BooksBarbecue
Back Sisters of Gold
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Dedication page
  4. A Week’s Work in Birmingham
  5. I
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. II
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. III
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Forty-Nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-One
  59. Fifty-Two
  60. Fifty-Three
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Further Reading
  63. About the Author
  64. By the Same Author

Annie had hurried to work at the factory, feeling as if the previous night’s events had been a dream. Sometimes she cursed having a pretty face. Their mother, Leah, a much plainer woman, had said to her daughters more than once, ‘A pretty face can lead to a hard life. Looks aren’t everything.’ Somehow, Annie thought, men don’t seem to look beyond.

She was still thinking about this when she got to her workplace amid the women’s morning chatter while they waited for the bell to ring. Lizzie was already there and when Annie surfaced and looked round, she saw that Lizzie’s pale face was lit up with excitement.

‘Annie,’ she hissed. ‘Guess what – my dad came home last night!’

‘Did he?’ Annie was astonished. ‘Well, that’s a nice surprise, Lizzie. How is he?’

Lizzie’s face clouded a little. ‘I don’t really know yet. He’s never been right since the accident. But he’s here – and he says he’s going to go and get a job! Mom’s ever so pleased.’

‘Of course she is,’ Annie said.

‘Will you come and say hello to ’im? I want you to meet ’im.’

‘Well, not today, surely?’

Lizzie shrugged. ‘Today’s all right. Why not?’

Annie was just about to ask about little Ada when the work bell rang. She swivelled on her stool, picked up her strip and fed it into the press.

Mary Poole seemed a changed woman. When Annie walked into the house with Lizzie, she found Mary with her hair combed and fastened back instead of hanging in rat’s tails round her face. The dismal little room had been tidied and there was a tasty smell of meat cooking and an air of celebration. By the smell of things they had blown all Lizzie’s wages on a ‘welcome home’ feast.

‘Mom – I brought Annie in to say hello to Dad,’ Lizzie said.

Annie saw the lank brown hair at the back of a man’s head as he sat on the chair closest to the fire. Den was sitting on the floor opposite the man, watching him, an intense expression in his eyes. Little Ivy was on the peg rug in the middle. There was no sign of Ada.

‘Oh, Miss Annie,’ Mary Poole greeted her, her eyes more full of life than Annie had ever seen them. ‘Wilf – this is the lady who’s been helping us. She’s been ever so kind. And now he’s back, ain’t yer, Wilf?’