They drove in on roads lined with fields and copses which slowly merged into the spacious houses of the suburbs and then into streets lined with terraces clenched tight against clumps of factories which belched black smoke. Gulls wheeled over the hospital as they approached, flying in from the do...
Where the hell was he? He remembered with a jolt, and checked the side table clock. Seven fifty-five. He switched off the alarm and sat up, swinging his feet to the parquet floor. His head spun. He ran his hand over his chin. Stubble. He needed a shave. He clicked on the side table lamp and padde...
It was 5 a.m. and dark. It was a bit of a leg but he liked the walk, and Mam’s scarf kept out the worst of the wind. It was 2nd January 1913, and he swore he’d heard a cuckoo yesterday on a walk, but Jack said it was a pigeon if it was anything. ‘It’s bloody winter, you daft beggar.’ ‘Is it colde...
The German uhlans, cavalrymen who seemed to have misplaced their horses, had cut their packs from them, and all their webbing, including their belts and chucked them into a pile. Captain Brampton had retained his leather straps and belt as behoved an officer, and as such to be respected, or was i...
She could hear the wind screaming in from the north and soon she’d feel it. She drew her scarf round her neck, turned up her collar. Would it be a white Christmas? ‘You shouldn’t have come, pet, it’s too cold for you. Sarah’ll be here next week. I could have come by myself.’ Annie looked at his s...
She wore extra socks inside her boots because the airmen’s had worn through and, of course, there would be no more. Chilblains came and in the evening she rubbed on wintergreen, pressing it hard into her swollen toes, preferring the pain to the itching. With Chris each morning she fed Laura’s chi...
Lower FallsJanuary 1st My dearest Rosie, We were so very pleased with your presents and the good wishes from your Grandpop. Please give ours to your family for a happy and safe New Year. I say safe because Frank is getting real uptight. He’s been seeing bogeymen in the woodpile ever since Churchi...
‘Drive on further, Harry,’ he instructed, pointing to a curved track which ran up to the front of the brick-built office standing to the left of the workings. Behind the low building which ran into sheds and store-rooms were the chimneys which cast long shadows. Around them the moor seemed undist...