‘Of course I will,’ he replied, kissing her cheek before reaching for Fran’s hand to give it an encouraging squeeze. ‘Come on, darling,’ he murmured. ‘Or we’ll miss the train.’

Fran’s heart was heavy as she took charge of the violin case and he picked up their cases. They stepped out of the front door for the last time, and she turned back just before the end of the cul-de-sac, saw them all standing on the doorstep, and realised that no matter what happened in Ireland, this was her true family, and always would be. She slipped her hand through the crook of Robert’s arm and gave him a brave, watery smile.

‘You’ll always have me beside you, Fran,’ he murmured against her cheek. ‘So hold on tight, and let’s begin our adventure with no regrets.’

Fran’s heart melted with love as she gazed up at him. And when they reached the corner, she didn’t look back, but into the bright promise of the new lives they were embarking upon together.

7

Germany

The forced march from Stalag IV at Gross Tychow had covered between fifteen and twenty miles a day, with much zig-zagging to escape the encroaching Red Army from the east, and had lasted eighty-six days, according to the notches Freddy Pargeter had made on a length of tree branch he’d cut on the first night.

The treatment they’d received from their guards had been brutal, with some prisoners being bayoneted, kicked or hit if they didn’t keep up. And should a man drop to the ground and not manage to get back on his feet, he was shot.

Freddy Pargeter and Randolph Stevens had stuck together throughout the torturous death march, sharing blankets and their greatcoats, helping each other to wade through the deep snow, tending their wounds, and then huddling close throughout the bitter nights when the only shelter had been a tumbledown barn, or a stand of trees.

They’d drunk contaminated water from roadside ditches, eaten snow, grass and even rats to stay alive, and when the opportunity had arisen, they’d risked their own and the farmers’ lives by trading their watches, rings and cigarettes – and anything else they possessed – for something to eat. They were infested with lice, suffering from dysentery, frostbite and trench foot, but they knew that if they gave in to the deathly weariness of their aching, half-starved and diseased bodies, they would never see home again.