Written for readers who have finished Book 1.
Hettie is the Pengelly farm's most disagreeable hen — big, rusty, bad-tempered, and nobody's friend, and the bird that pecks Edie the moment she arrives. She becomes an unlikely star of the letters home: "give Hettie my regards" turns into a fixed sign-off between Edie and her mother. The smallest and warmest of threads, holding a family together across the war's hardest weeks.
Bill Fletcher is Edie's father — an East-End dockman who signs on with the merchant navy and sails the…
Edie Fletcher is ten years old when the war sends her away — a London girl put on a train with a label round…
Joan Pengelly is Tom's older sister, on the edge of grown-up when Edie arrives — a careful politeness that…
Mr Pengelly is the farmer who takes Edie in — large, undemonstrative, and kinder than a wary London girl…
Mrs Hooper is Vera's neighbour and friend in Bethnal Green — the Fletchers' London anchor, all sharp opinions…
Mrs Pengelly is Edie's billet host — the gruff, fair, unsentimental Devon farm wife who is the hardest person…