Child of the Mersey
A brand new series from the bestselling author of A Christmas Promise. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn.For the ordinary people of Empire Street, life will never be the same again.Kitty Fisher has plenty on her plate to keep her busy. Since her mother died when she was just a child, she’s cooked, cleaned and scraped to make ends meet for her drunken father and her headstrong brothers.Rita Kennedy, living with her husband under the roof of his spiteful mother-in-law, is desperate for their own home. Perhaps that will help them get their marriage back on the rails again?For the two women and others like them on Liverpool’s dockside and across the whole country, the threatening clouds of war will bring heartache and tragedy. It will take courage and the bonds of family and friends to help them see this through.
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ANNIE GROVES
Child of the Mersey
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2014
Copyright © Annie Groves 2014
Cover photographs © Colin Thomas (woman, boy); The Walters Industrial Archive/ Paul Walters Worldwide Photography Ltd/Topfoto (houses); Shutterstock.com (sky, airplanes).
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014
Annie Groves 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.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007550807
Ebook Edition © August 2014 ISBN: 9780007550814
Version: 2017-09-12
My adorable grandchildren Emily, Abi, Daniel, Jack and Hollie
The Future.
Thomas, Michael and Mathew
Our Heavenly Stars xxx
Table of Contents
September 1930
‘Mam?’ Eleven-year-old Kitty Callaghan edged further into her mother’s bedroom. Unusually, the clean but faded curtains were not yet open, and in the dim light Kitty could just make out her mother lying on the bed. Ellen’s head was to one side, as if looking down at something, and a small, barely perceptible sound was coming from her direction.
It had gone noon but there was no dinner ready. When Kitty and her brothers, fifteen-year-old Jack and ten-year-old Danny, came home from school and the shipyard there was always something hot to eat, even in the summer. Kitty did not know where her dad was. Maybe he was out looking for work – if he had not got a start on the dock that morning.
‘Mam? Mam, are you all right? Are you sick?’ Rising panic caught Kitty’s throat as she inched towards the bed. When her mother did not answer, fear made Kitty’s heart beat faster.
If she opened the curtains, Mam would wake with a fright, which Kitty knew would make her cross, but Kitty could not see properly in this gloom. Her attention struck by an unfamiliar sound, she made up her mind.
Unhooking the wire that threaded through the top hem, Kitty drew back the faded curtains. They slipped along the wire with ease, and then she placed the wire back onto the nail so they did not sag in the middle. Her mam liked everything tidy and said saggy curtains had a poverty-stricken look about them.
‘I’ll get you a nice cup of tea, Mam,’ Kitty said brightly. ‘I’ll take the afternoon off school to help you out with the baking if you’re not feeling up to it.’ Her mother was not the strongest of women, Kitty knew, even though she was always on the go, taking care of everyone, especially Dad.
It would be nice for her to have a day in bed. She deserved a bit of peace and quiet. Only this morning she said her legs felt like they did not belong to her. Kitty had laughed and wondered to whom the legs did belong. Her mam said some funny things sometimes.
‘Let me wait on you for a change, Mam. I’ll fetch you that nice hot cup of tea,’ Kitty said. ‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Mam?’
Turning, Kitty looked again towards the bed, not used to seeing her mother lying down, doing nothing. Usually she was scrubbing out or, more often, making bread and cakes to sell, just to keep body and soul together when Dad was out of work.
A chill came over Kitty and almost without realising it she found herself inching closer towards the bed, almost drawn by an invisible force. Moving slowly, her eyes took in the motionless shape of her mother; the bloodstained bed a deep crimson and her mother’s hand that cradled a quietly mewling bundle, itself huddled into her mother’s still form.
‘Mam …?’ Kitty’s voice wavered. ‘I’m here. It’s going to be all right. I’ll get you help.’ Kitty saw her mam’s half-opened eyes fixed on the newborn baby in the crook of her arm. Quickly now, she moved towards the infant. Its tiny mouth was puckered, searching for sustenance.
