Ursula brandished a large cardboard poster. “Ta-da!” she announced, holding it upright on the table. It featured an assortment of images of children: innocence caught in some expressions, others with beaming smiles, and emotive photographs in front of ruined homes.

“So, what do we have here?” Tommy asked.

“It’s the new mock-up of the cover for Women and Children First,” she said with a smile. “Now that Alice has agreed to come back part-time, the content will be ready by the start of June—won’t it, Alice?”

“Um, yes . . . that’s right,” she replied, sounding less than confident.

“But I’ve got the print run booked for early July, so that’s cutting it a bit fine, isn’t it?” said a worried-looking Tommy.

“I think that should work,” Alice said, exchanging a look with Ursula. “The typesetting is being outsourced, but everything else is in-house. The schedule is under our control.”

Theo hoped she was right.

“And what is the content, exactly?” Emily asked, arms folded across her chest.

“Well,” Alice said, “as you know, it was going to be about ordinary women and children in extraordinary situations on the home front.”

“We’re all in extraordinary situations, surely?” Emily said.

“Yes, although some of us are more ordinary than others,” Ursula said with a straight face.

“Alice, perhaps you can elaborate for us,” Theo said, smiling at the banter.

“We already have interviews with families, accounts of children thought missing who have been miraculously found, and stories of children placed with new families”—Alice hesitated and caught Ursula’s eye—“and then there are the stories about children who have been stolen and sold.”

“What?” Emily said with a look of horror. “You’re including those in the book?”

Alice nodded. “We’re planning to.”

“That’s different than what you told us before you left, and I for one think it’s rather bad form. I mean, who wants to read about that? It’s frightful!”

“Lots of people do,” Alice snapped back, “because it’s been happening all over the country, and the government is soon to pass an act in an effort to stop it.”

Emily looked around at the others. “I’d have thought we wanted good news stories, uplifting ones that make people want to pick up the book, not throw it in the bin!”

“There will be lots of those too,” Alice said, “but we can’t ignore what’s going on right under our noses. We need to draw people’s attention to it, and—”

“Thank you, Alice,” Theo said, concerned about her growing agitation. “I’m sure they would all be very worthy stories, and perhaps they can be included.”

“Are you sure about your sources?” Tommy asked. “After all, we do seem to be spending a disproportionate amount of time and money on this book. We need to know it’s real, and worth it.” His eyes darted from Alice to Theo.