SPOILERS!!!
Like the two previous books in the series, I enjoyed this book thoroughly.
Two of the main characters in this novel are Jimmy and his sister, Kitty. As he gets involved with Dominic Reilly and football practice, Jimmy meets Theresa, a widow with two young children. Shortly afterwards he starts courting her and then marries her to Kitty's dismay. Kitty thinks that the woman is not good for his father because she is too cold and aloof, and she is right.
Jimmy is forced to return to work when an inspector concludes that he is fit to work, which doesn't sit well with him. At first, Theresa tells him that she will go out to work, but then she gets pregnant and has to stop working. So Jimmy returns to the docks.
Kitty decides to leave home after her father tells her that she should move to the boxroom and let the two boys sleep in hers. Jessica suggests she move with her, and she does so. Recently Kitty has met Dale, an American soldier, and fallen in love with him. She lives three wonderful months, but the night before Dale has to leave, he confesses that they won't be able to marry because he is already married and has two daughters. Kitty naturally is devastated, and after that, she goes into decline. Jessica and her father try to comfort her, but she is too hurt to do anything else.
During this time, Jimmy has realised that marrying Theresa has been a terrible mistake, and Kitty tells her that he needs to think of the two boys, whose mother keeps them inside all the time and doesn't let them play outside. It is then that becomes closer to the boys and takes them fishing.
Kitty, her father and the boys go on holiday, and Kitty meets a man who has lost everything: his wife and children, and as a consequence, he is not right in his head. This makes her think that what has happened is nothing compared to what other people has gone through. So she decides to join the merchant navy as a nurse.
Jessica Fleming is the other main character in this novel. She keeps seeing Jack Doyle and she also runs the garage. Then Rita has a run-in with her husband when he returns and finds her having a party with American GIs. The man beats her to a pulp and then blows up the garage and the flat, and he is arrested. Rita has to leave, and Jess finds herself with no business. It is around this time that she meets Major Henningsen, and they first dislike each other. Jessica decides to break up with Jack Doyle, and after that, she discovers that she is pregnant. As she gets to meet Gus Henningsen, she thinks that they are a good match, and she fancies moving to New York after the war. So she tells Gus and almost tells him that they should get married. Jess tells him everything about him. Her husband, Arthur, was killed some weeks ago, and Jessica feels she didn't treat him right. Jessica tells her everything about her. Jessica thinks that she is incapable of loving a man, and she doesn't love Gus but it is a good match. However, when he fails to turn up one night, she calls his office and is told that Henningsen won't see or talk to anybody because he has received a telegram saying that his only son is missing, presumed dead. Jess doesn't stop to think and takes a taxi to his headquarters, and when he storms into his office, she tells him that she loves him and he is not alone. And then she feels blood running down her legs, which means that she is losing the baby.
Gus and Jessica get married, and he gets the good news that his son has been found safe and sound. Jess moves out of Bootle into a cottage near where Gus works.
As for the other characters, Sheila gets pregnant again and is expecting her seventh child. Nick returns from war incapacitated. He lost an arm when his plane was hit, and when he returns home, he is depressed, feeling that he is useless and doesn't have much interest in his son either. Yet, things perk up when he is offered a job in London, and he becomes excited. Sean's wife, Alice, has a baby boy. And Dai Evans has an affair with Vera, the postwoman, and Ellis kicks him out. Then she and her daughter return to Wales, leaving Bootle.
I really enjoyed the book. These are very fond characters.
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