Tears started in her eyes and she shook her head. Huskily, she said, ‘No – no, I’ll never see Jacques’s father again. He – he is dead, Gervase. Like I told you, but – but there are other things—’
Now he drew her to him and kissed her gently, silencing her mouth. ‘Nothing matters now – if you really mean it. Do you, Florrie? Will you really marry me?’
She looked up into his dear, kind face and wondered why on earth it had taken her so long to realize that she loved him. Loved him wholeheartedly in every way there was.
‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘But first, there’s something I must tell you . . .’
She was not afraid, for she knew that even when she explained everything – even about Ernst – Gervase would still love her as he always had.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I met the author and poet, Gervase Phinn, at a Hull and East Yorkshire Literary Luncheon. Seated at the same table, we chatted about what we were working on. He suggested I should call this book Lust in the Trenches! Now, that doesn’t quite fit my profile as an author of regional sagas, but I promised I would call one of the characters after him. So his name is the inspiration for Gervase Richards in this novel. Gervase Phinn is, of course, the author of wonderful books, including The Other Side of the Dale, Over Hill and Dale, The Heart of the Dales, and others, based on his work as a teacher and school inspector in Yorkshire. He is also a fantastic speaker. If you ever get a chance to go to one of his events, you will ache with laughter and be quite unable to resist buying his latest book – signed, of course!
Readers often ask me where I find the inspiration for my stories and if I’m ever ‘off duty’. The answer is ‘Anywhere and everywhere’ and, no, I’m never off duty. In 2004 I went abroad for the first time to Davos in Switzerland. Finding that it was once a centre for the treatment of tuberculosis, I made a beeline for the local library, where there were bound copies of old local newspapers in German, French and English! I took notes and, as the idea for a novel grew, I returned to Davos in 2007 to do more research. That year I visited the magnificent Schatzalp Hotel, which was once a sanatorium. Joining a conducted tour round the luxurious building, I learned that much has remained the same as when it was built in 1900. I am very grateful to the Schatzalp for allowing me to use the name. The characters and story are, of course, entirely fictitious.
My grateful thanks to Timothy Nelson and Liselotte Dürr of the Dokumentationsbibliothek Davos for their help, advice and information.
A great many sources have been used for research, most notably: The Suffragette Movement by E. Sylvia Pankhurst (Longman, Green, 1932), A V.A.D. in France by Olive Dent (Grant Richards, 1917), The Roses of No Man’s Land by Lyn Macdonald (Penguin Books, 1993), Shot at Dawn by Julian Putkowski and Julian Sykes (Leo Cooper, 1998), The Great War Magazine, which has been published bi-monthly by Great Northern Publishing, Scarborough, since 2001, and The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, Everyman Edition (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005).
Special thanks to my great-niece, Nicola Hill, for translating passages from Davos – Profil eines Phänomens – Ernst Halter (HG.) (Offizin, 1994) and to my brother, David Dickinson, who not only read the draft typescript but also helped enormously with my research in Switzerland.
Last, but never least, my love and thanks to my family and friends who read and comment on the typescript, to my agent, Darley Anderson, and his wonderful ‘angels’ and to Imogen Taylor, Trisha Jackson and Liz Cowen and everyone at Macmillan.
Welcome Home
Two families. Divided by war. United by love.
There are some things which even
the closest friendship cannot survive . . .
Neighbours Edie Kelsey and Lil Horton have been friends for over twenty years, sharing the joys and sorrows of their tough lives as the wives of fishermen in Grimsby. So it came as no surprise that their children were close and that Edie’s son, Frank, and Lil’s daughter, Irene, fell in love and married at a young age.
But the declaration of war in 1939 changes everything. Frank goes off to fight and Irene and baby Tommy, along with Edie’s youngest son, are sent to the countryside for safety. With Edie’s husband Archie fishing the dangerous waters in the North Sea and daughter Beth doing ‘important war work’, Edie’s family is torn apart.
Friendship sustains Edie and Lil, but when tragedy strikes – and then Beth disappears – their relationship is tested to the limit. But it is Irene’s return, during the VE day celebrations, that sends shock waves through the family and threatens to destroy Edie and Lil’s friendship forever.
Suffragette Girl
Born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Margaret Dickinson moved to the coast at the age of seven and so began her love for the sea and the Lincolnshire landscape. Her ambition to be a writer began early and she had her first novel published at the age of twenty-five. This was followed by a number of further titles including Plough the Furrow, Sow the Seed and Reap the Harvest, which make up her Lincolnshire Fleethaven trilogy. Many of her novels are set in the heart of her home county but in Tangled Threads and Twisted Strands, the stories include not only Lincolnshire but also the framework knitting and lace industries of Nottingham. Jenny’s War and The Clippie Girls were both top-twenty bestsellers and Fairfield Hall and Welcome Home both went into the Sunday Times bestseller list.
ALSO BY MARGARET DICKINSON
Plough the Furrow
Sow the Seed
Reap the Harvest
The Miller’s Daughter
Chaff upon the Wind
The Fisher Lass
The Tulip Girl
The River Folk
Tangled Threads
Twisted Strands
Red Sky in the Morning
Without Sin
Pauper’s Gold
Wish Me Luck
Sing As We Go
Sons and Daughters
Forgive and Forget
Jenny’s War
The Clippie Girls
Fairfield Hall
Welcome Home
First published 2009 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2015 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-330-50502-4
Copyright © Margaret Dickinson 2009
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Figure © Colin Thomas
Street © London Stereoscopic Company/Stringer
The right of Margaret Dickinson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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