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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

‘Oh –’ Annie grinned at Philip Tallis. ‘Yes. I think he’ll do.’

Margaret looked from her father to Philip Tallis and back again, a smile growing on her face of utter certainty. ‘I say yes, Father. Gladly – yes!’

Everyone in the room broke into applause – even, in a measured way, William Hanson.

‘Oh, Margaret, bab – you’ll be our next-door neighbour!’ Aunt Hatt exclaimed, not even trying to hide her tears now. She seemed to have forgotten all about moving house.

‘And you’ll be my mother!’ Daisy cried. Her face sobered. ‘Not my real mother, of course.’ She looked carefully at her father. ‘But like my mother.’

Margaret walked round the table and put her hand on Philip’s shoulder. ‘I’ve found a truly good man, Father.’

‘She has,’ Annie said, serious now.

‘Well.’ William Hanson looked back at them all with a helpless smile. ‘My Leah used to say that the people she came from here were golden-hearted – and from what I see, I believe it to be true. I bow to your judgement. I’m sure you know what to do for the best, my dears.’

Fifty-Three

Fifty-Three

‘My goodness,’ Aunt Hatt said, as Susan took delivery of a substantial parcel and laid it on the desk in front of her. ‘That looks interesting.’ She stood up and peered at it. It was thickly wrapped in brown paper and tied about immaculately with twine. The address was recorded in a precise, ornate hand. ‘It’s got German stamps on it.’

‘You going to open it then?’ Susan asked, with an impatience shared by Margaret, though she did not like to say so. The stamps looked foreign and interesting, with heads in profile and ‘DEUTSCHES REICH’ printed on them.

‘Oh, my – how do you say that?’ Bridget said, peering at them.

It already felt like a day of excitement: Friday 23 December, the last working day before Christmas, which the girls were to share with Uncle Eb and Aunt Hatt – and Annie’s last day at Masters, Hogg & Co.

‘Shouldn’t we wait for Eb?’ Aunt Hatt said, looking up at them with mischievous eyes. Margaret thought, with a warmth spreading through her, how lovely her aunt was. And this – this place and this street were to be her home! She was full of happiness.

‘Oh, he won’t be in for ages,’ Susan said, slumping down at her desk again.

‘No,’ Aunt Hatt said. ‘I’m not opening that – it’s addressed to Eb and it’s for Christmas.’

Annie came home that evening rather tearful at having left the factory.

‘It sounds silly, doesn’t it?’ she said to them over the tea table. ‘It’s such hard, boring work, but I’m glad I’ve done it. And I’ll miss some of those women.’

‘And others you won’t, I can imagine,’ Aunt Hatt said, carving up a meat pie with some vigour.