FROM THE ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF THE LAST PEARL AND THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER, this is a beautiful and dramatic novel about family secrets, wartime betrayal and redemption.
When Isobel Morton takes over the cafĂ© in Lichfieldâs market square, she has big plans. Soon renamed The Victory CafĂ©, with a menu that delights despite rations, the girls who work at the Vic are swept away by Belleâs lust for life.
Among the regular customers is a trio of soldiers from the nearby American base and waitress Dorrie Goodman soon befriends them, learning about jazz and romance in the process. But the stifling morality of a Midlands town in the 40s cannot accommodate such a friendship; jealously, hatred and the weight of public disapproval combine to precipitate a tragedy.
It is not until many years after the war that friendship and reconciliation can begin to heal the wounds of the past âŠ
Praise for Leah Fleming
'I enjoyed it enormously.It's a moving and compelling story about a lifetime's journey in search of the truth' RACHEL HORE
'A born storyteller' KATE ATKINSON