Christmas on the Home Front

Annie Clarke

DURING the dark days of the Second World War, servicemen weren’t the only people risking their lives and limbs for their country. In the munitions factories, where work was dirty and dangerous, brave women took risks every day to keep the forces supplied with ammunition, and in the fourth book of her uplifting Factory Girls series, Annie Clarke brings us more dramas from the lives and loves of three friends in a North East mining village.

Clarke’s roots are dug deep into this region and she draws inspiration for her stories from her mother, who was born in a County Durham pit village during the First World War and went on to became a military nurse during the Second World War.

PIT VILLAGE DRAMAS: 
Annie Clarke 

She and her husband now live only a stone’s throw from that same pit village and she has often written about the North East in her novels which she hopes reflect her love and respect for the region’s lost mining communities.

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In October 1942, as Christmas approaches, evacuees in Massingham pit village decide a pantomime is just what they all need. Viola loves her new job away from the munitions factory, and hopes that her romance with the handsome Ralph might have a happy ending.

Meanwhile, married life is proving tough for Fran and Davey as they are forced apart by Fran’s job at the factory and Davey’s war work at Bletchley Park… and when there is an unexpected arrival on the doorstep, her world turns upside down. And following her husband’s shock confession, Beth finally feels as though she’s regaining control of her life… that is until he turns up. A lot can happen on the home front, but Christmas is a time for family and friends, and the factory girls will do everything they can to ensure this year’s celebration is one to remember.

With its delightfully authentic and nostalgic warmth, a heartfelt sense of community in hard times, and the joys of family and friendship shining through like a beacon, this is a story of strong and resourceful women which will inspire, uplift and delight.
(Arrow, paperback, £6.99)