London in the Blitz. Poppy is a mature and capable woman. She struggles to enable her family to lead normal lives. The problems they create are known to all mothers-a daughter torn between two men and a difficult and headstrong stepdaughter. It is a time of fear and uncertainty but love and passi...
There were already several dozen pots of redcurrant and raspberry jelly which they had made in July and as many of blackcurrant jam but they might still need to make some greengage jam and quince jellies if they were to avoid the ignominy of having to buy readymade preserves from Charlie Harrod. ...
It showed itself in the appearance of the staff, in carefully polished shoes and unusually neat uniforms, in scuttling hurry as they moved about the morning’s work. The more junior the member of the staff, the more apparent was the uneasiness. The porter in the Main Hall carefully Sellotaping a n...
Her hands, smooth and glossy and amber-coloured in their sheaths of rubber gloves looked alien to her, though she could see her knuckles shining whitely through them above the glitter of the chrome instruments, matching their appearance to the strain she could feel in them, and she stared at them...
She just found herself sitting there in Sister’s office, looking at the box of chocolate liqueurs on the desk, and trying to think clearly. Once she had seen Sheila with her own eyes, she had felt better; not that the poor woman wasn’t ill. She was. She lay in bed with an IV line up and her head ...
‘Not how or why, but what.’ There was a long silence at the other end of the phone, and then Gus said carefully, ‘Was this the notion you had Christmas afternoon? The hunch?’ ‘You’ve got it,’ she said, with a sudden lift of exhilaration. It was good to be able to tell him how she felt, and not to...
Stephen’s Hall entrance, for once forgoing the pleasure of using a members-only way out; there was no point in seeking the stab of pleasure he got from being recognized as an MP by the people who hung about staring, not today. It wouldn’t help him feel any better. How could Davidson be so stupid?...