Nell got up and walked away from the unmarked grave, glancing back just once over her shoulder. I will be home soon.'

Cousins Sylvie and Nell have always been rivals. But when the Nazi occupation of France maroons Sylvie with Nell's family, the girls grow up quickly in the early days of rationing, black-outs and the arrival of RAF planes in the skies overhead. Circumstances throw both girls into the path of the same man, and the machinations of war change the course of all their lives, with devasating consequences.

Catherine Law first explored her keen interest in the lives of ordinary men and women during the First and Second World Wars in her debut novel, Season of Leaves.