The Lost Evacuee by Cathy Sharp EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
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- Author: Cathy Sharp
- Language: English
- Genre: Sibling Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
Everyone was crowding up on deck, preparing to disembark from the ship
that had brought them from England to Halifax in Canada. Over the days
and weeks of their voyage, Julie Miller had met and talked to several of the
children who had, like her, been sent out by the British Government to
Canada – to protect them from the war that was raging in Europe, Julie had
been informed by the woman in charge of the evacuation. Her father had
been killed in France, her mother was ill, dying in a hospice, and her
grandparents were long dead. Still only fifteen, she had no one who was
prepared to give her a home and so she had been sent to a new country for a
new life. No one had asked her how she felt about this, it was just presented
to her as a fact and so Julie felt that no one cared whether she wanted to go
or not. Crying did no good, even though at times she felt close to despair,
but she’d found some comfort in caring for the younger children.
Julie had been sent to an orphanage after her father’s death, when her
mother, who had suffered from diabetes for years, overcome with grief and
often unable to afford her medication, fell into a coma one day. She had
been taken away to hospital before Julie got home from school so mother
and daughter never even had the chance to say goodbye. Rebellious, and
not truly understanding why she’d been banished from her home, Julie had
run away from the orphanage and gone back to the grimy streets of London,
hoping to find her mother, only to discover that the house she had lived in
all her life had been taken over by a stranger and her mother was dying, so
Martha Cole, a neighbour who had been kind to Julie in the past, had told
her. Martha had gone to the council for help and they’d said the best thing
was to send Julie to Canada through the Government’s evacuee scheme,
because she couldn’t run home from there.
‘Please let me live here with you,’ Julie had begged Martha. ‘I’ll be good
– I won’t cause you any trouble,’ she promised, her eyes filled with tears.
‘Dad wanted me to stay on at school and get a good job but I’ll leave and go
to work in the biscuit factory, and then I’ll look after you.’
For a moment she’d seen hesitation in Martha’s face, but then she’d
shaken her head. ‘I’m sorry, Julie. I’m old, your mother is beyond help, and
I’m not sure this country will survive this war – we suffered too much in the
last one. Go to Canada, girl, and make the most of the opportunities there.
I’m told it’s the best for you and believe me, if they’d have me, I’d come
too.’ She’d given the girl a printed paper, outlining all the benefits she
would get from being evacuated but Julie had thrust it aside. She didn’t
want to be sent to a place where she wouldn’t know anyone. It wasn’t fair
and it wasn’t right.
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