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Chapters (76)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  43. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  44. Chapter Forty
  45. Chapter Forty-One
  46. Chapter Forty-Two
  47. Chapter Forty-Three
  48. Chapter Forty-Four
  49. Chapter Forty-Five
  50. Chapter Forty-Six
  51. Chapter Forty-Seven
  52. Chapter Forty-Eight
  53. Chapter Forty-Nine
  54. Chapter Fifty
  55. Chapter Fifty-One
  56. Chapter Fifty-Two
  57. Chapter Fifty-Three
  58. Chapter Fifty-Four
  59. Chapter Fifty-Five
  60. Chapter Fifty-Six
  61. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  62. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  63. Acknowledgements
  64. Also by Rosie Goodwin
  65. About Rosie Goodwin
  66. Welcome to the world of Rosie Goodwin!
  67. A Letter from Rosie Goodwin
  68. Cissie’s Roast Chicken
  69. An extract from Rosie Goodwin’s next novel
  70. Prologue
  71. Chapter One
  72. Love Rosie Goodwin?
  73. The Days of the Week collection
  74. Mothering Sunday
  75. Tales from Memory Lane
  76. Memory Lane Advert

Women from the WVS appeared bearing flasks of tea and sandwiches as the morning wore on and George and John stopped to take a well-deserved break. They had both seen sights during the day that would stay with them forever: an old couple still in their bed, which had fallen through the ceiling, their arms clasped tight about each other. Dead cats and dogs – someone’s beloved pets. Children with wide, staring eyes, their mouths open as they had screamed for their parents. The two men felt as though they had been caught in the grip of a nightmare. And then shortly after lunchtime the army appeared and an officer approached John and George to tell them kindly, ‘Why don’t you two go home and get some rest now? My lads will take over. But thank you for all you’ve done. The people hereabouts have told me you’ve both worked like slaves all day.’

Both men were now almost dropping with fatigue and they nodded numbly. Their clothes and shoes were ruined, every muscle in their bodies was screaming a protest and yet had they been asked they would both have said they would not have done things any differently. The one bright spot in the whole day had been when they had managed to pull a screaming baby from the ruins. How the little tot had managed to survive beneath all the bricks and debris they had no idea, but it had made all their hard work worthwhile.

‘What do you reckon, George? Shall we call it a day?’

George nodded. ‘Aye, I reckon so. An’ when I get home, I’m gonna sleep the clock round. That’s if there ain’t another raid tonight o’ course.’

The following day they discovered that over ten thousand homes had been damaged, three hundred and eighty had been completely destroyed, and a hundred and thirty people had lost their lives. Most of the munition factories had been flattened as well as the church and part of the hospital. It had been the worst raid that the market town had suffered so far during the war and one that those who had survived it would never forget.

Chapter Forty

Throughout May the war seemed to escalate, and London was bombed relentlessly, but then the British people knew sweet revenge when the German’s newest and fastest battleship, the Bismarck – the pride of their fleet – was chased by over a hundred British vessels and sunk in the Atlantic.