Sweet Memories of You by Ellie Dean EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
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- Authors: Ellie Dean
- Language: English
- Genre: Military Historical Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
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Cliffehaven
Beach View Boarding House stood in one of the many lines of terraced
Victorian houses which climbed the hill away from the Cliffehaven seafront.
The only view of the sea it afforded was from one of the top-floor windows,
but that hadn’t deterred the many holidaymakers who’d come to stay before
the war. It had been Peggy Dawson’s childhood home, and after her marriage
to Jim Reilly, they’d returned to take over from her parents on their
retirement and raise their children there.
It was still dark outside and Peggy Reilly lay in bed and wondered how her
sister Doreen was getting on in London with her Archie. Their week together
was coming to an end and soon he’d be back at sea. She didn’t blame Doreen
in the least for spending intimate time with him. After all, she was divorced
and he was single. At times like this, it was little wonder that people
disregarded the strict codes that had once stifled their natural instincts, for life
was uncertain, and it was important to snatch every moment of happiness.
Peggy nestled deeper into the bedclothes as the rain splattered against the
taped glass in the window and the wind howled up from the Channel to buffet
the walls and rattle the loose drainpipe. This old house had seen many
changes over the years. Once war had been declared and the holiday trade
dwindled to nothing, Peggy had gone to the billeting office to offer a home
from home for girls who, for one reason or another, needed shelter. Their
arrival brought youthful life back into the echoing rooms left empty by her
older children, and although there were only four girls lodging with her at the
moment and Jim had been called up, Peggy still had her baby Daisy, the
elderly and rather deaf Cordelia Finch, and her father-in-law, Ron, to look
after.
The once rather sleepy little seaside town of Cliffehaven had also seen
many changes during the past four years, for the chalk cliffs that sheltered the
horseshoe bay now resounded with the roar of Spitfires, Wellingtons and
Lancaster bombers taking off and landing at Cliffe aerodrome. The heavily
forested Cliffe estate rang with the sounds of saws and axes as the women of
the Timber Corps chopped down trees to provide railway sleepers, heavy
beams to prop up mine shafts, and timber for emergency housing. The girls of
the Land Army worked in the fields, sowing and harvesting much-needed
crops to feed everyone now that the Atlantic convoys were constantly under
attack, and the gracious old manor house was home to a regiment of
American soldiers.
Beneath the towering chalk cliff at the eastern side of the bay, and
stretching all the way to the rolling hills that tumbled towards the sea at the
west, the promenade was heavily fortified with huge coils of barbed wire and
several gun emplacements. The shingle beach had been mined, and vast
concrete shipping traps were strung across the bay to deter enemy landings.
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