Maybe it really was the busy time of year as I read this but couldn't say I loved it. When her parents in Ireland in the early 1950s find out another baby is on the way, Angela is sent to live with her Aunt Mary and Uncle Liam who are unable to have children of their own. Needless to say Angela i...
From the early days of the war telegrams had been used to convey the news of casualties and fatalities of serving soldiers or sailors to their relatives. So many had been delivered in the intervening months that they were now viewed as harbingers of tragedy. ‘Mam, what’s t...
It must have been years since these rooms had seen a duster or a carpet sweeper, she surmised. Perhaps Martha would come to give them a hand? Sophie had taken one look at the front parlour and decided that it would make an excellent workroom, but that a lot of the heavy, old-fashioned furniture w...
Even at six o’clock in the morning it had been warm, Emily had thought as she’d walked to work. ‘Headachey weather’ Mam called it. She and Phoebe-Ann had left Upper Huskisson Street just after twelve and were home by fifteen minutes past. The house looked oddly bare, Phoebe-Ann thought, glancing ...
No doubt you will be happy now,’ she answered, glancing in the direction of Molly and the children who were still sleeping. ‘I will so. It’s good riddance but the likes of you always fall on your feet. A grand roof over your head and four guineas a month in your pocket and nothing to spend it on...
‘I’ll wait until later, Mam, when it’s cooled down a bit.’ ‘All right, luv, but I can’t open the window any wider or we’ll be inundated with flies. I’ll have to get some more fly papers tomorrow. At least our Rose won’t be tormented with them like we are.’ ‘I wouldn’t bank on that, Kate. They get...
Looking back, it hadn’t really been a bad day after all. His good humour had returned as he had watched her hitch up the skirt of her dress, slip off her shoes then run down the beach to paddle her feet in the cold water. He had watched her splashing about among children a...