Sheila had such a remarkable way of bringing her characters and her stories to life and we are all very grateful for the lovely legacy she left behind through her novels.’ Rosie Goodwin One last cough from the overheated engine of the Morris 8 and the bulging doors appeared to burst at the seams, with children tumbling eagerly out and dispersing in all directions – rushing past the shabby old weather boarded cottage into the tangled orchard and, with joyous whoops, discovering the gnarled plum trees groaning under the weight of huge, glistening purple-red Victorias. At the outbreak of World War II seven-year-old Sheila and her family left Surrey to take refuge in Suffolk. For Sheila country life was strange at first, but roaming the fields and picking wildflowers was what childhood dreams were made of. When the bombing died down, the family moved back to Surrey, but Sheila would later return to the countryside when she, her husband John and their children arrived at Crabapple Cottage, their new home in Kent. Over the next few years, they had many adventures as they adapted to the seasonal rhythms of country life.

Evacuees and Crabapple Trees: Memoirs of war, love, family and the countryside from the much-loved author of Bicycles and Blackberries and The Winter Baby

Evacuees and Crabapple Trees: Memoirs of war, love, family and the countryside from the much-loved author of Bicycles and Blackberries and The Winter Baby PDF

The list of books you might like