The Wartime Bookshop [The Wartime Bookshop #1] by Lesley Eames

Author:Lesley Eames
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: WW2, War Saga, Historical Saga
ISBN: 9781529177350
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2022-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Alice

‘You’ve got a book for me?’ Timmy Foster’s eyes brightened.

‘A choice of The Call of the Wild or Murder on the Orient Express,’ Alice told him.

‘I’ll take the second one. If I read about a murder, maybe I won’t want to commit one.’

‘Bad day?’ Alice asked.

‘It’s the boredom that gets to me. The frustration, too. My ma hasn’t been well and I hate being unable to go and help out. She’s a widow.’

‘I’m sure she knows you’d help if you could. You’ve written to her to explain?’

‘Yes, though she’s not so good with reading. My sister will read the letter to her if she can get over there, but Sal’s just had twins so she’s struggling a bit. Her Alan is away in the navy.’

‘I won’t say try not to worry – that would be impossible – but I hope the book will take your mind off things for a while.’

‘It will, miss, and it’s kind of you to bring it. Breath of fresh air, you are.’

Alice smiled and moved on to give The Call of the Wild to Jonty O’Brian, whom she suspected would have preferred the Agatha Christie but was grateful for any book.

It had been a busy morning and Alice was glad when Nurse Carter mimed a tea-drinking gesture from the door and beckoned Alice to follow. Nurse Carter and her friend Nurse Evans were the two friendliest nurses in Stratton House. They were quick and efficient, too, and obvious favourites with the patients.

Alice moved into the corridor then turned into the small room where tea was made and teacups washed. Nurse Carter already had tea brewing. ‘Get this down you,’ she said, offering a cup to Alice.

‘Thank you.’

The nurse leaned back against the cupboards for a breather, so Alice did likewise.

‘What you’re doing here … I think it’s great,’ Nurse Carter said. ‘The patients always look forward to your visits. Even Jake Turner, and he’s a miserable so-and-so if ever I saw one.’

‘I suspect that being miserable is his way of protecting himself. A shell that keeps the world out and the fears in.’

‘You could be right. He’s always got his nose in one of those old seed catalogues you brought. I asked him if he was enjoying them yesterday and he flung the catalogue aside and said there was nothing else to do around here. But a few minutes later he had his nose buried in it again.’

Alice was glad to hear it. When she’d offered him a catalogue, he’d given one of his long-suffering sighs before reaching out to take one. ‘Anything for a bit of peace,’ he’d muttered, as though she’d been nagging him, but Alice had suspected he’d wanted a catalogue all along.

‘He’s right when he said there’s nothing else to do around here,’ Nurse Carter said then.

‘Jonty O’Brian said much the same, though he had pubs in mind. Is it dull for the nurses, too?’

‘No dance hall, no cinema, no teashop, even,’ Nurse Carter confirmed. ‘I’ve been to St Albans and Hatfield on the bus but it’s a long walk from here to the bus stop and the buses are slow.

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