by Maggie Ford
He smiled as little Beth toddled over to him to show him the dolly Father Christmas had brought her, unaware it was he who had given it. He stood now on his crutches, and looked around at the rest of his family.
Annie, reunited with Alex, would go away again, perhaps only to the other side of London, but socially it would be to another land. He wondered if she would come home sometimes and not forget her humble roots. He hoped so. They would all go away, Annie with her wealthy husband; Connie to Market Harborough, a vicar’s wife, her role in his parish keeping her away from her family for weeks on end; Josie, going to live in East London with her Arthur once they were married.
That left Danny, at the moment sitting in the corner, blowing his nose noisily in a sheet of a handkerchief. And beside him, Holly, attentive to him, a sweet, contented soul – not a beauty, but what was beauty? Said she was happy to come and live with them when she and Danny married. She’d look after her husband and help her future mother-in-law; she who had no one else in the world saw her future here as a gift from God.
Yes, Danny would make out. His new blood would bring prosperity to them. In time this seemingly endless world depression would come to an end – as everything did. Life never stood still. Things would change. For the better he hoped. A week from now would see in a new year. And ten years from now, he was certain, life would be happy and peaceful and full of hope again, the hard years forgotten.
‘Dear Lord,’ Daniel Bowmaker prayed silently as he watched his family on Boxing Day, ‘let nineteen thirty-two bring ’em all joy. And let ’em have peace and prosperity for the rest on their lives. They all deserve it. Amen.’
And though he wasn’t normally a praying man, he was sure the Lord would answer that one.
Read more heartwarming sagas from Maggie Ford
Torn between love and duty…
Letty Bancroft longs to be married but her father has other ideas – he wants his daughter to stay at home and help run his East End shop.
Heartbroken, Letty must remain unwed while her sweetheart goes off to fight in France. But her love affair has had consequences that will see her more determined than ever to be a soldier’s bride…
Can she escape the hardships of her past?
Growing up in London’s tough East End, young Sara Porter has had to learn to take care of herself. Her mother resents her maternal responsibilities and has never shown her daughter the slightest bit of love.
Starved of affection, Sara vows not to let anyone get close and focuses instead on getting out of the East End. But still she hopes that one day she’ll find a real family to call her own…
Will she ever be her soldier’s sweetheart?
Jenny has been in love with the handsome and successful Matthew Ward since she was sixteen. Only she was too shy to make her feelings known.
When Matthew joins the army Jenny is also determined to do her bit for the war effort and becomes a nurse. Her newfound skills give her fresh confidence. However, when they meet again will he be the same man she once loved?
Eveline’s father believes a woman’s place is in the home…
But when she is accidentally caught up in a suffragette march, it changes her life forever.
She finds friendships, and even the possibility of love too in the form of the gentlemanly Laurence Jones-Fairbrook. But will she be forced to choose between her family and friends… between duty and love?
From rags to riches…
With the Armistice only a few months passed, times are hard for eighteen-year-old Geraldine Glover. A machinist at Rubins clothing factory in the East End, she dreams of a more glamorous life.
When she meets Tony Hanford, the young and handsome proprietor of a small jeweller’s shop in Bond Street, Geraldine is propelled into a new world – but it comes at a heavy price…
There’s no escape from the effects of war…
It’s June 1914 and young Connie Lovell should be helping with the war effort. Instead, she applies for a job at the London Herald, where she meets the handsome editor Stephen Clayton.
Nine years her senior, she knows her family won’t approve. She is helplessly drawn to him, and despite a past he won’t talk about, he is undeniably attracted to her. But as the war rages on, will Stephen be forced to enlist, and can their union survive the consequences?
In his absence, she will find her strength…
After a childhood in poverty and leaving school to work at the age of thirteen, life is beginning to look up for Brenda Wilson. Freshly married to her handsome soldier husband, she finds her true vocation in hairdressing.
However, Brenda is forced to give up her dreams of owning her own salon as Harry is called into service, leaving her to bring up their daughter all by herself…
Will she ever be anything more than an East End girl?
Cissy Farmer longs to escape her life in London’s Docklands where times are hard and money is tight. And when she meets the debonair Langley Makepeace, her dream seems within reach.
But the price of belonging in Langley’s brittle, sophisticated world could be much higher than Cissy ever imagined. Torn between Langley and her gentle childhood sweetheart, Eddie Bennet, she is forced to gamble on her future chance of happiness, a decision that will change her life forever…
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Epub ISBN: 9781473503168
Version 1.0
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Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
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London SW1V 2SA
Ebury Press is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
Copyright © Maggie Ford, 1999
Cover images: woman © Head Design; background © Alamy; children © Getty images
Cover design: www.headdesign.co.uk
Maggie Ford has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
First published in 1999 as The Bowmaker Girls by Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Ltd
This edition published in 2018 by Ebury Press
www.penguin.co.uk
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780091956677