CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LONDON, TUESDAY 8 MAY, VE DAY
The kitchen window is open. A dull, warm day that somehow seems lighter, brighter and altogether better than it really is. The cold weather is evaporating and it’s getting warmer by the minute. On the radio, the Andrews Sisters are singing I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time. Elsie puts the kettle on for tea. Grace sits at the breakfast table reading the newspaper. VE Day. Victory in Europe, the headline. Grace has finished her second cup of tea and requests a third top-up. Elsie obliges and pours a fresh cup for herself. Brian comes into the kitchen in his army shirt and trousers, looking slightly dishevelled. She asks him if he slept well and he says yes, he did but she doesn’t think he did; his eyes look bleary. Too much whisky last n
