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Back When We Meet Again Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  51. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  52. POPULAR BOOKS FROM THE ERA
  53. When We Meet Again
  54. A Conversation with Caroline Beecham about When We Meet Again
  55. Discussion Guide
  56. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  57. What’s next onyour reading list?

George nodded, giving a faint smile. He appeared to be following their conversation, but Theo noticed the drumbeat of his fingers on the table and his frown lines deepening. The months of concern over Rupert and the business had clearly taken their toll, and Theo felt a wave of concern for the older man. Unlike Walter, George shared Theo’s view that books should be used as weapons in the war of ideas—Theo just needed to help him find a way to carry on doing that.

Twenty

London, April 8, 1943

“Every desk in the production office had been taken over as work began in earnest on the book: interviews were being scheduled and stories written up, and a photographer had been booked for the four-page spread. But Alice was immune to the excitement that surrounded her; she found herself staring into space, unable to concentrate.

“The War Economy Agreement is on the poster over there,” Ursula said, pointing at the back wall. “Alice, are you all right? Have you been listening to a word I’ve said?”

“Yes, of course,” she replied, with a cursory glance at the poster. “The poster is over there, and I’m fine, thank you.”

The truth was that she was far from it. On the one hand, working on the book was the best way she could gather information on baby farmers; on the other, she was working so hard that she couldn’t follow up on any leads. She’d been forced to take things slowly in recent days, partly by Penny and Michael—no more visits to the foundling hospitals or any child welfare organizations—and she knew that any information from the book group would take a while to trickle in. She’d had a medical checkup and been told she was physically recovering as well as could be expected under the circumstances, but it was her feelings at being back in the office that she hadn’t counted on—being faced with George’s likeness to Rupert and all the memories of the past couple of years. Now she was torn between the desire to repay the trust that George and Theo had placed in her, and her certainty of the need to leave Partridge as soon as she could. The American had won them over, and she could see why: it wasn’t just his support and hard work, it was his integrity. And that was yet another reason she wanted to remove herself—she’d found herself distractedly thinking about him, and she couldn’t afford to let that happen.

She tried to focus on the galleys in front of her, pen poised as she read through the Patricia Reece novel. Light pooled around the document as her hand moved down the page, stopping at each line as she methodically checked the punctuation and grammar.

“How are you getting on?” Ursula asked.

“Only another couple of hours, if all goes well.”