War changes everything. What began as a completely normal story of a not-so-well-to-do neighborhood, its various characters, eventually turned out pretty morbid. In the end, of course, it was a happy ending. It had to be, as most fictional novels are. There is Nancy and Mary who are brought up separately by single but independent mothers. And there there is Jerry, Mike and Tommy, who, although belong to complete families, have woes of their own. The whole neighborhood suffers from perennial lack of finances but makes up for it with universal fellow-feeling and unity. Although there is a bit gossip, well, there is always gossip. Then come the Chattertons. Newly paupered, having lost everything to bad investments, they begin to find and build a life in the Liverpool slum. They are welcomed, and rendered a helping hand in more ways than one and they gradually begin to settle down, albeit with some hiccups here and there, what with Dee losing her mum.
Things could have gone on smoothly, but for the onset of the Second World War, tearing the normalcy of lives apart. Of course the boys now have to sign up and fight for the country with their betrothed and about-to-be-betrothed waiting behind. With nothing to live for, even the girls think of taking up nursing as a career, helping those wounded soldiers fighting so valiantly, and the story goes on and on...
In the end, every piece of the puzzle seems to fall back together with a sort of happily ever after to it. However, a lot has been lost in the process, innocence, to say the least.
A completely gripping read which had me turning the pages till the end and left me in a state of shock. Wartime isolation, the fear, the estrangement and the hopelessness of it all seemed to shrink into my veins. In the end, you might get a feeling...it was all for nothing.
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