A Store at War. Joanna ToyeЧитать онлайн книгу.
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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London, SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Copyright © Joanna Toye 2019
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019
Cover photography © Johnny Ring (model), Alamy and Shutterstock.com (all other images)
Joanna Toye asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008298234
Ebook Edition © January 2019 ISBN: 9780008298241
Version: 2018-11-16
For my grandmothers – and all the women of their generation.
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
June, 1941
‘Well? Will I do?’
Lily Collins hovered in the doorway of the small back parlour. Her brother Sid, shirt sleeves, flannels, wavy blond hair, broad shoulders – Sid was the looker of the family, and no mistake – his injured foot propped up on a stool, glanced up from his Picturegoer magazine.
‘Come in, then, Sis, give us a closer look!’
Coming in was just what she didn’t want to do. What she wanted, no, needed, to do was to get Sid’s swift approval, then shoot out of the house faster than a firecracker before her mum could see that Lily had dabbed on a bit of her powder and even (before quickly blotting most of it off) a smudge of precious lipstick. She’d only dared sneak down to seek Sid’s approval because she’d seen from upstairs that her mum was out in the back garden, sitting on a canvas stool in the sun, shelling peas.
‘Come on!’ urged Sid. ‘Let the dog see the rabbit!’
Lily edged forward. She was horribly aware of how young she still looked