Author: admin

‘His name was Rudi?’ asked Gertie. ‘The guy in the Old Forge?’ she added, when Maddie looked as if the words were in a foreign language. Maddie was disoriented. She stared at her friend, searching the worried face beside her for a clue, watched Gertie’s hands tighten on the car’s steering wheel. ‘Look, I know

Maddie counted the waves as they crashed dramatically onto the rocks. Every tenth wave sent up an enormous blast of white foam thrashing into the granite backbone of the beach. She always counted the wave-sets there and they were rarely the same. Some days you’d wait five minutes for a huge titanic wave to batter

Maddie waited in the room next to the garage. She wasn’t alone. Lots of other drivers and mechanics were hanging around waiting for their assignments as well. Some were sitting, like her; others were caged lions, pacing back and forth. The lance corporal who normally handed out the rotas was nowhere to be seen. The

They’d just finished eating a gloopy macaroni thing for tea. Maddie had almost heaved, but she’d eaten it anyway, for it had been kind of the cook at Inglis Barracks to think of them. She often sent strange leftovers back home with Gertie. Giving food. A sign of love. Not to be dismissed out of

Major Anderson had been wrong. The play had not been boring. It had been thrilling and a little thought-provoking and sad. Our Town was a story about Grover’s Corners, a small town in America, but really it could have been in England or France or anywhere. Maddie cried when the heroine, Emily, died. Smiled when

Although the war had moved into its sixth year, you could see the optimism on people’s faces now. The news from the different battle fronts was encouraging and it seemed to Maddie that it would take a heavy-duty miracle for the Germans to turn around defeat. And they needed to be defeated, there was no

Maddie Brady had some dates scorched into her memory. And apart from the day she’d met Rudi, they had mostly been anniversaries that heralded sadness. Now, she had another to add to this growing litany of sorrow. It was a Sunday when they heard the news. She would always remember that. And Sunday would have

Time rolled by at a brisk pace: birthdays, Christmas, New Year. And the year 1944 brought many changes with it. Rationing was still as painful as it always had been, but people were philosophical now about the sacrifices that came with fighting a war. Life was hectic for Maddie, and her duties meant that sometimes

It had been five of the longest, unhappiest days of Maddie’s life. Five days of total misery. Leaving for work alone. Coming home and passing her friend in the hallway. And Gertie giving her the cold shoulder. She’d smiled, tried to strike up a conversation, but Gertie had just given her a stare that had