Stephanie Sandford, recently widowed, must tell her family the truth - but the past is indistinct and it's complicated. First, there was her mum, who developed an anxious streak after marrying the wrong Reg. Then there was the young man from the dairy who taught Stevie to swim and broke her heart. War came, and four years spent chopping root vegetables in the canteen of the Sun Pat peanut factory on the Old Kent Road, followed by wet London nights, with the Doodle Bugs slipping through the sky like huge silvery fish. It's not until Stevie's under an umbrella with Jonathan that Stevie finally starts to sense safety.Meanwhile, Michael Royston's memories are squashed into a shoebox (along with Queen Matilda's Dicken Medal for bravery) ready for his move into hospital. Years ago, he trained military carrier pigeons for the Royal Corps of Signals in Cairo yet his own homecoming has taken a lifetime. Michael has never been good at putting things into words; he's more comfortable with the click of Morse code. But Anna, a young healthcare assistant, has the patience - and rare tenderness - to eke out his story. And so he begins.
Stories have the power to change things, and this one will alter Stevie's past and transform Anna's future...
- ISBN10 0701182733
- ISBN13 9780701182731
- Publish Date 31 July 2008
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 15 December 2008
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Vintage Publishing
- Imprint Chatto & Windus
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 272
- Language English