Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Lily Wildhart
- Language: English
- Genre: Paranormal Witches & Wizards Romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
August–December 1914
Lucy
Lucy rested the heavy sack of vegetables and paper-wrapped meat on her
hip, reluctant to set it down at her feet beside her suitcase despite the ache
in her arms. She didn’t really fear that some hungry villain would dart
across the train platform and snatch away her hard-won provisions the
moment she relaxed her guard, but with two sons and a footballer husband
to feed, she dared not take that chance. London had been in a state of
anxious turmoil when she and the boys had departed for Surrey four days
ago, and, glancing about Paddington station as they waited to change trains,
Lucy could not tell whether things had settled in their absence or had grown
more desperate.
Less than a fortnight before, Germany had ignored the British
government’s midnight ultimatum to withdraw its troops from Belgium,
plunging Great Britain and Germany into a state of war. Excited, boisterous
crowds had filled the streets of London, shouting and cheering and waving
their hats in the air, and at Trafalgar Square, two rival demonstrations had
broken out on either side of Nelson’s Pillar, one for the war and one against.
A vast throng had assembled outside Buckingham Palace, singing “God
Save the King” with tremendous sincerity and fervor. The song had
dissolved into roars of approval when King George, wearing the uniform of
an Admiral of the Fleet, had appeared on the balcony overlooking the
forecourt, where the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and Princess Mary had
soon joined him.
Lucy and her husband had been at their tan brick, ivy-covered home in
Clapham Common at the time, but they had heard frequent shouts of “War!
War!” outside their windows, and learned the rest from the papers and
neighbors who had ventured out. Lucy had hardly known what to think. In
school, she had been taught that another major war in Europe would be
highly improbable in the future because modern weapons were so dreadful
that they served as a deterrent rather than a threat. But highly improbable
was not impossible, and now Great Britain was at war.
The next morning, it seemed that nearly every housewife in England had
been seized by an irresistible impulse to fill her cupboards for an imminent
siege. Unaware of the rising panic, Lucy had gone out to do her marketing
as usual and had been startled to discover other women bustling about,
empty baskets dangling from their elbows, strain evident in their pinched
mouths and furrowed brows. Long queues had formed at the doors of
several of her favorite shops, and hand-lettered signs had appeared in some
front windows announcing that the store had sold out and closed early.
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