1944, London. A young man is killed in an air raid, leaving a wife, two children and a secret. Ailsa, Margaret and Luke are persuaded by Jaime's brother Cal to return to the North East, to the town he came from. Despite their grief and bitterness, they find a new life there: the children make firm friends with Danny and Shannon Logan, whose father, Keir, drinks and whose mam, Jessie, has a secret of her own. Against their families' better judgement, the young people form a bond which sustains them in hard times, and which will ultimately prove unbreakable...
Elizabeth, formerly a journalist and house journal editor, has a daughter Katy and lives in Durham City. She began writing at four and had a poem published at twelve and a short story accepted at age twenty. Her first book was published when she was thirty and subsequently has had a total of 40 novels published.
This was an engaging novel, though slightly more English Novel of Manners than I expected. Given that I only read enough of the dust jacket to determine if I might like it, however, that's not surprising. All that said, I enjoyed it more than I might have thought I would have had I known more about it.
I almost quit reading this book after the first chapter...after all, who wants to read a book about a man who's cheating on his wife, hates his kids, etc.? But it turned out to be a pretty good book, with many redeeming qualities.
I grabbed this book off the shelf at the library, read the jacket and decided to read it. I was hoping it didn't have anything to do with adultry, but it was. I kept reading it because of the 4 characters that were children. I wanted to see how their lives evolved. The ending left me smiling.