BooksBarbecue
Back The Return Save as PDF

The Return

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

Cover

Cover Image: The Return by Anita Frank

About the Author

ANITA FRANK was born in Shropshire and studied English and American History at the University of East Anglia. She lives in Berkshire with her husband and three children and is now a full-time carer for her disabled son. Her debut novel The Lost Ones was shortlisted for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award and the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown Award. The Return is her second novel.

Also by Anita Frank

The Lost Ones

Note to Readers

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

  • Change of font size and line height
  • Change of background and font colours
  • Change of font
  • Change justification
  • Text to speech
  • Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008341282

Dedication

For Mum and Dad

With all my love

Part One

Chapter One

Gwen

8th May 1945

It is Tom who hears them first.

She has been watching him run up and down the grassy margins at the edge of the field, his arms flung wide, the tops of his wellies flapping against his skinny calves. Although she cannot hear over the deafening putter of the tractor, she can easily imagine the nasal drone he is making as he swoops and dives, mimicking the Spitfires that sometimes fly over the farm.

She eases down the left-hand brake as she approaches the end of the row. As she feeds the steering wheel through her hands, bouncing on the Fordson’s scooped steel seat, she notices him pull up. He stands rigid, his narrow chest rising and falling, his blond head cocked to one side, a shallow furrow in his brow.

Bringing the vehicle about, she twists around to check on Nora who is standing on the running board of the seed drill being pulled behind. The Land Girl sweeps her hand through the heaped grain in the trough before her, then lifts her head and grins. She offers Gwen a thumbs up, reassurance that the seed is falling evenly. Gwen nods in acknowledgement and allows her gaze to stray back to her son, who remains stationary by the hedgerow. Dark fumes belch from the exhaust stack as she lightly presses her foot to the throttle.

From the corner of her eye, she sees Tom turn. He starts to run across the harrowed soil, waving his arms, shouting, though she is unable to make out his words. Struck by a sense of unease, she slows the tractor until it chugs to a standstill, its coarse engine idling. Behind her, Nora raises a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, as she too begins to track the boy’s advance.

At last, he reaches them, breathless and excited. He keeps back, wary of the tractor, warned of its dangers from an early age. ‘Mummy!’ he shouts over the grumbling motor. ‘What is it? What’s that noise?’