Chapters (57)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- POPULAR BOOKS FROM THE ERA
- When We Meet Again
- A Conversation with Caroline Beecham about When We Meet Again
- Discussion Guide
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Dusk was settling, creating golden crowns on the birch and oak of the surrounding gardens where a band accompanied visitors taking tea beneath the leafy canopy. Fairy lights illuminated the animal houses, floodlighting made brilliant spectacles of the Mappin Terraces and the Penguin Pool, and a patchwork of grass plots featured clusters of light from the unique glow-worm displays.
“Do you want me to carry her for a while?” Theo asked, a soft pleading in his voice.
Alice involuntarily clutched her daughter tighter. “No, she’s not that heavy.”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, and smiled fondly. “I thought you might like to walk around, meet some of your fans.”
She could see he was itching to carry Eadie, and so teasingly said, “No, I think I’ll just enjoy being here a little longer.”
A thread of lights spun overhead like a spiderweb, creating a magic that had never felt as strong, and a spark of that energy passed right through her.
“Lots of guests want to talk to you, you know,” he said with a raised eyebrow. “You need to make sure you do the rounds—you wouldn’t want George complaining about poor marketing.”
She still wasn’t sure if he was serious or teasing, but that was part of the excitement of getting to know each other better. Their friendship had evolved slowly over the intervening months, and it was obvious now to everyone how they felt about each other.
Five months had passed since she’d been reunited with her daughter. The 1939 Adoption of Children Act had finally come into force, and Alice knew that the work of Olive Melville Brown, Joanna Swift and the welfare sector had been instrumental in the change. Olive had forgiven Alice and Elizabeth since Joe had been able to keep his identity secret, and Olive had told Alice a little about her experiences as a victim of baby farming.
Ever since Women and Children First had been released, it had been a huge success, thanks partly to it being so topical.
Sidney Jardine and his associates were in custody awaiting trial. While Ruth could have been prosecuted for abduction, Alice had dropped the charge, although she still couldn’t bring herself to see her. Hope kept Alice up to date since she was regularly in touch with both Ruth and Alice.