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In 1940 in war-ravaged Birmingham, Meredith Wilson, driving an ARP ambulance, comes to rescue survivors of a bombed war munitions factory. There she meets two brothers, Bert and Bill Ennis, in Reserved Occupations running the factory, and falls in love.
In May 1941, Bill Ennis, now a RAF radar officer, witnesses the German paratroop landing at the Battle of Crete. With a small group of compatriots and led by a young Cretan boy, Nikos Themistocles, he escapes across the White Mountains to the south coast of Crete. In protecting Nikos, Bill dies before he can escape. In July 1941, shortly after receiving news of his death, Meredith and Bert Ennis are married and four months later son Tom is born.
In 2006, twenty years after Bert’s death, Meredith Ennis, now ninety, comes to Crete with Bill’s lately-discovered diary to find the site of his death. Guided by the adult Nikos Themistocles, she visits scenes from the battle and Bill’s flight but her journey has an unexpected conclusion. Her son Tom, sent for from England, discovers a terrible family secret and has to learn to deal with its consequences.
Published by Pierrepoint Press |
