This is the third book in the Pearl Street series.
A character from the first book returns. It is Jessica Fleming, who after a year living with her husband, she decides that she wants to return to Liverpool and leaves Arthur. Her baby, Penny, is one year old, and she is also keen on seeing Jack again. The baby is Jack's after they sleep one night, but he doesn't know that the baby is his.
A character that appears to be central to this novel is Kitty Quigley, who is a close friend of Sheila's. Her father had an accident in the docks ten years ago, which left him disabled, and Kitty has looked after him since then. Kitty would have liked to work and help the country, but her father dissuaded her, saying that he needed her. Sheila seems to think that Jimmy Quigley is not so handicapped as he purports to be, but he is just selfish. As a consequence of her responsibilities, Kitty doesn't have a job and didn't get married or have children, which is what he would have liked. Now the Ministry of Labout sends her a letter, saying that as she doesn't have any dependents, she needs to report at the Labour Exchange for a job. When she goes there, she repeats what her father told her to say, but the woman at the Exchange don't take the reasons seriously, and Kitty is given a job as a nurse. Her father takes the news better than she thought, but he makes her feel bad when he says that without her in the house he will have to stay in bed the whole morning.
I am glad to read another book about the characters in Pearl Street. I wonder what will happen between Jessica and Jack, and I'm curious to know how things will pan out for Kitty.
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