by Anne Bennett
‘Anything I can do to help?’
She smiled. ‘You help by just being there. But I would love to go for a walk, if Ben doesn’t mind?’
‘Why should I mind?’ Ben said. ‘I got a couple of good books from the library today, as it happens.’
‘I’ll likely not be too late,’ Joe said, ‘though I might as well take Isobel home while I am about it.’
‘That’s OK,’ Ben said.
Isobel had come to a decision. They had barely reached the street when she said, ‘You don’t have to take me home every night, you know.’
‘We’ve been through this, Isobel.’
‘I’m not talking of me going home on my own,’ Isobel said. ‘I am talking of the fact that I have a three-bedroomed bungalow that I rattle round in, which is plenty big enough for all of us.’
‘I couldn’t take that offer, much as I would like to,’ Joe said. ‘If I moved in with you I would ruin your reputation.’
‘I don’t care about that.’
‘You must care.’
‘I don’t, honestly,’ Isobel said. ‘Once I craved respectability above all else, but it is a very cold bedfellow. One thing this war has taught me is that life is very short and you have just the one crack at it. We really shouldn’t waste any of what we have and live life to the full. Both of us should have this second chance of happiness but I would put no pressure on you. If you didn’t want to share a room with me until you are free, I would understand that.’
‘And what would you do if I did that?’
‘I would wait for you until you were ready.’
‘You would do that for me?’
‘Yes.’
‘But what are you getting out of this?’ Joe said. ‘What do you want, Isobel?’
‘I want to make you happy,’ Isobel said simply. ‘And I would do whatever that takes. I would welcome you into my bed, if that is what you wanted.’
‘You’re not worried about making a name for yourself?’
‘Not in the slightest,’ she said emphatically.
Joe looked at her incredulously, hardly able to believe that, after Gloria, he could love another person so much, or so deeply, and he held her tight as he said, ‘Oh Isobel, you are very special, and my own darling, darling girl, and you have achieved your objective, because you have made me happy. In fact, you have made me the happiest man in the world.’
Acknowledgements
Hi to all my readers. Many of you have written following the publication of A Daughter’s Secret in March 2008, saying how much you enjoyed hearing stories about the Sullivan family whom you had met in A Sister’s Promise. I hope A Mother’s Spirit is no exception.
This is Joe’s story. As the second son he knows the farm will never be his and after his father’s death he strikes out for New York to find his fortune in this brave new world, that promises so much.
Research for this book has been quite phenomenal. Having not had the funds or time to visit New York, I had to rely heavily on the internet. I also used books such as The Search for Prosperity by Richard Garrett which deals with emigration from Britain between the years 1815–1930; Modern America by Chris McDonald and Jon Nichol goes back to the First World War and traces America’s progress through the years.
Joe arrived in 1921; I had to research Ellis Island where all the steerage passengers were first sent. They had to pass a medical and have a good understanding of English and be able to pass some basic tests before they were allowed on American soil. Prohibition was in operation then too, so that had to be researched and as Joe arrived in November, I had to look into Thanksgiving, the reason for it and the special food prepared. Once Gloria was finished with school, I had to delve into the world of the flappers of the 1920s. There was a terrific amount of entertainment to be had in New York at the time and apart from the movies the most popular amongst the young were the dance halls. There girls danced the daring charleston and the shimmy and wore dresses just below, or shockingly just above, the knee and many wore heavy cosmetics, smoked and had their hair bobbed.
It was a fascinating insight into America. I cannot claim this as an original thought of mine, but a fellow writer once said that ‘research for a book is like the iceberg effect’. Although the writer has to know as much as possible about a subject to write about it convincingly, the reader is fed only a little of that information, which is blended into the story.
Research about pre-war London and London during the blitz also proved more difficult than I had anticipated and my lovely editor helped there. I also used maps and street plans and the books London Life in the Post War Years by Douglas Whitworth and 30s and 40s Britain by John Guy.
I had already done a lot of research on Ireland and the farm that Joe and Gloria returned to, as this is the third book in the series, but I did dip into Rekindling a Dying Heritage by Evelyn Ruddy, which I have used many times before. I also skimmed The Donegal Corridor by Joe O’Loughlin and relied heavily on An Atlantic Memorial – The Foyle and Western Approaches 1939–1945, now threadbare I have used it so often. It documents Derry through the war years and the American service men that lived in Springtown Camp. Last but my no means least I used Sutton Coldfield in the Forties by John Bassett, although I still remember much of how Sutton Coldfield was as I grew up just beside it in the late 1950s, and later lived there for 14 years before moving to North Wales.
So that was it and another book is born, but the series wouldn’t have begun at all if it hadn’t been for my very astute agent suggesting it in the first place. Thanks, Judith. Immense thanks must also go to the great team at HarperCollins, like my editor Susan Opie and Yvonne Holland for the terrific job they did on the copy-edits and my publicist Kiera Godfrey. The book would be a much poorer one without them, believe me. So thank you all so much.
And I must not forget Judith Evans, who is in charge of all the bookshops in Birmingham International Airport, and Peter Hawtin, regional sales manager at HarperCollins, who together were instrumental in my writing for the publishing house in the first place. Thank you both. I would also like to say hi to my dear friend Judith Kendall, who reads everything I write and says that a packet of tissues should be given away with each book. I suppose that could be arranged.
My family is very special to me, my son and three daughters, their relevant partners and their families. I love them all so much, although I am quite horrified that my beautiful grand-daughter was old enough to take her GCSEs this year, and that her little brother is off to secondary school after the holidays. Even the baby of the family, seven-year-old Theo, the one that this book is dedicated to, will join his brother in the juniors in September. I must be getting old, for the days just seem to gallop past at an alarming rate.
My husband Denis needs a particular mention and special thanks because he is my rock. He helps and supports me in so many ways and probably knows me better than anyone, and yet he’s still around – amazing! I am so glad that I married him all those years ago.
Heartfelt thanks though go to you, the readers, because without you there would be no point in my carrying on writing anything. So many of you now write and say how much you have enjoyed the books. That is very much appreciated and I hope that you continue to enjoy them. Immense gratitude to you all.
About the Author
A MOTHER’S SPIRIT
Anne Bennett was born in a back-to-back house in the Horsefair district of Birmingham. The daughter of Roman Catholic, Irish immigrants, she grew up in a tight-knit community where she was taught to be proud of her heritage. She considers herself to be an Irish Brummie and feels therefore that she has a foot in both cultures. She has four children and four grandchildren. For many years she taught in schools to the north of Birmingham. An accident put paid to her teaching career and, after moving to North Wales, Anne turned to the other great love of her life and began to write seriously. In 2006, after sixteen years in a wheelchair, she miraculously regained her ability to walk.
For more informat
ion, visit Anne’s website,
www.annebennett.co.uk.
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By The Same Author
A Little Learning
Love Me Tender
A Strong Hand to Hold
Pack Up Your Troubles
Walking Back to Happiness
Till the Sun Shines Through
Danny Boy
Daughter of Mine
Mother’s Only Child
To Have and to Hold
A Sister’s Promise
A Daughter’s Secret
Copyright
This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper
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First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollinsPublishers 2008
Copyright © Anne Bennett 2008
Anne Bennett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2009 ISBN: 9780007287680
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