Every girl has a story and Alice finds the job more complex than she first thought.
Marion and Winnie, the fun-searching girls, have a secret to hide. When Winnie gets sick and has to go to hospital, everybody knows what is happening to her except for Alice. What Alice learns is that Winnie caused a termination to a baby she was expecting. Alice talks to Marion, and she discovers that both of them make money by going with men because they want to save money and open their own pub. When Winnie returns, Alice talks to her, and Winnie admits that it has been difficult, and Alice is shocked to discover that Winnie has done this once more.
Mabel starts visiting Ferdie, the labourer on the farm who has a limp after he was run over a tractor some years ago. Ferdie lost his mother some years ago, and since then, his house is a mess and he can't cook. Ferdie knows that no woman will look at him twice, but Mabel visits him and she cooks for him. Mabel has a secret too. The toddler who she claims is her brother is actually her own son, and she has been visited by a man who she claims is her brother, but it seems that he may be her lover.
Hester, who comes from a very religious background, has gradually let herself relax the rules that her father has imposed. She has cut her hair and even has started wearing some colourful dresses. During a cricket match organised with the soldiers stationed nearby, she met an American GI called Reuben and they hit it off, and now they write to each other regularly.
Annie posed for a Dutch Jew, who has been staying on the farm thanks to Mr Bayliss. Andreis is an artist and he thought that Annie has the perfect face for his painting, so she agrees to sit for him. Andreis flew Holland when things started to go wrong, and he feels guilty for fleeing like a coward. After he finishes the painting, he tells Alice that he wants to return to Holland. However, he shoots himself and the girls find him dead. Annie tells Alice that Andreis was suffering too much for the life he left behind, and now she thinks he is at peace. Annie has also met Georgina's brother, Lionel, and it seems that the boy is interested in her, and now he visits the farm regularly.
Georgina is now upset because Christopher Bayliss has been arrested as a deserter. The young man was hiding on the farm, and the police found him. The girl is upset on his behalf, but she tells the girls that she is not in love with him, but she considers him a good friend.
And Alice has agreed to a divorce from James. She has also met someone. Oliver Maynard is an officer who she met when he was about to run her over. It is clear that Maynard is attracted to her, and when she agrees to have dinner with him and asks him about his wife, he tells her that he doesn't want to talk about her because it is clear that both he and Alice are having marital problems. What he proposes is that they enjoy each other's company.
I am really loving this novel.
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