Later, his speech is met with polite applause. Sir Oswald tells him it was “capital,” but he doesn’t feel so sure and goes to bed early. He hears laughter as he walks slowly up the stairs.

NOVEMBER 1943

“Where’s Daddy?”

“Daddy’s not here, darling.”

“But he was here last birthday.”

“I know, but he’s had to go away, Amy, he’s gone to help fight the Germans.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a brave man, fighting for his country.”

“And where’s Mummy?”

“She’s gone too, gone to help her mummy.”

“Where?”

“Why don’t you just blow out your candles? Come on, deep breath, and then blow!”

Amy blew out the candles, watched by her Aunt Ellie, Uncle Peter and their two children, her cousins Harry and Sam. What she did know was that Auntie Ellie was her mummy’s sister, and that she didn’t like Harry and Sam, who would tease her because she was a girl, tease her because she didn’t live with her own mummy and daddy.

Daddy used to come and see her, sometimes every few days, bringing her a toy or occasionally some chocolate. She loved it when Daddy came—he was always so funny, and he looked so smart, wearing his Army uniform. Why did Uncle Peter not wear an Army uniform? Amy asked. Because Uncle Peter, said Daddy, was doing something far more important, which meant that he had to wear a suit and tie. What did he do then? Aha, that was a secret—a secret that little girls weren’t allowed to know. And that would annoy Amy, who would stamp her feet, and say that that wasn’t fair, that it wasn’t fair that little girls shouldn’t know things. Once she remembered Aunt Ellie saying, “Oh, she’s Anna’s daughter all right,” and Daddy laughing. But Daddy didn’t come here anymore, and Aunt Ellie and Uncle Peter would never tell her where he had gone, and just said that he was “very brave.”

There was a picture of Mummy on the wall in her bedroom, the bedroom she shared with Sam, her younger cousin. She couldn’t really remember her mummy, and once she said something that made Aunt Ellie cry.

“Mummy’s dead, isn’t she?”

“No!” Aunt Ellie replied. “You mustn’t say that, Amy. Mummy has just gone away for a little bit, and she’ll be back soon.”

“Back with Daddy?”

“That’s right, darling—back with Daddy—and then you can go back to your own house, with both of them.”

“When will that be?”

“Very soon.”

“But when? When?”

“Soon, Amy, soon. Come on, it’s time for bed.”