by Annie Murray
From her bag she produced a photograph of herself, sprucely dressed in her green WRAC uniform, her handsome face solemn, with a slight frown, as if she was listening to instructions.
‘You look magnificent,’ Katie said. She felt a growing respect for Molly, for what she had become. ‘It looks an interesting life.’
‘Oh, it is,’ Molly said. ‘It’s the life for me, anyway.’ She was bubbling over with it all.
Marek came up then and stood behind Katie, gently interrupting by putting his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. He nodded at the others. ‘Sybil says it is getting a bit cold. We can go in and sit inside.’
Katie reached up and took his hand. ‘All right, love,’ she said.
Marek squeezed her hand. ‘I’ll fetch the children.’
The three women walked slowly up the garden, Em still cradling Christine. Molly turned to Katie.
‘You’ll have to tell me about yourself properly, Katie.’
Startled, Katie looked round at her. She saw that Molly was genuinely interested, and in her kind, honest face she saw someone she very much wanted to get to know.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘You too. I’d like that.’
Sybil was at the back door as the three of them slowly walked inside from the garden, which was now all in shadow.
‘Ah,’ she said fondly. ‘Here’s the class from Cromwell Street School!’ As they laughed she said. ‘Go along, girls – leave the men to it for a bit. You can go into the room at the back: you’ll be warmer.’
‘Thank you, Sybil,’ Katie said. ‘It’s been a lovely afternoon.’
‘And thank you, too – it’s been marvellous,’ Sybil agreed.
Katie led her friends inside to sit together in the mellow light of late afternoon, to continue a conversation that she hoped would last, now, for the rest of their lives.
All the Days of Our Lives
ANNIE MURRAY was born in Berkshire and read English at St John’s College, Oxford. Her first ‘Birmingham’ novel, Birmingham Rose, hit The Times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has subsequently written fourteen other successful novels. Annie Murray has four children and lives in Reading. You can visit her website at www.anniemurray.co.uk.
ALSO BY ANNIE MURRAY
Birmingham Rose
Birmingham Friends
Birmingham Blitz
Orphan of Angel Street
Poppy Day
The Narrowboat Girl
Chocolate Girls
Water Gypsies
Miss Purdy’s Class
Family of Women
Where Earth Meets Sky
The Bells of Bournville Green
A Hopscotch Summer
Soldier Girl
Acknowledgements
I drew on a great many sources in preparing this story, but particular thanks are owed to the following:
The Birmingham History Forum, and especially to the Heartlands Local History Society for their welcome and help.
Jane Freebairn at the WRAC Association.
A number of Poles have told me their stories over the years and some, I know, would prefer not to be named. But my particular thanks go to Lubek and Ewa Wruszczak for their friendship and generous gift of their time.
The website describing many of the Polish Resettlement Camps in the UK (www.northwickparkpolishcamp.co.uk) was very helpful, as were a number of excellent books, especially Heart of Europe: A Short History of Poland by Norman Davies, Keeping the Faith: The Polish Community in Britain by Tim Smith and Michelle Winslow, and Worlds Apart by Henry Pavlovich.
First published in Great Britain 2011 by Macmillan
This edition published 2011 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2011 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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ISBN 978-1-4472-0364-3 EPUB
Copyright © Annie Murray 2011
The right of Annie Murray 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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Table of Contents
1945
1931-1944
I: KATIE
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
1946
II: MOLLY
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
III: EM
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
IV: KATIE
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
V: MOLLY
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
VI: EM
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
1948-1949
VII: KATIE
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
VIII: EM
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
IX: MOLLY
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
X: KATIE
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Fifty-One
Fifty-Two
Fifty-Three
Fifty-Four
XI: EM
Fifty-Five
Fifty-Six
XII: KATIE
Fifty-Seven
Fifty-Eight
XIII: MOLLY
Fifty-Nine
XIV: EM
Sixty
XV: KATIE
Sixty-One
Sixty-Two
1953
