It is September 1939 and 15 year old Nell Whitaker is sent to a farm on Anglesey from her home in Liverpool to live with her aunt Kath, who she has never met before, because her mother wants to join the WAAF.
At first Kath is very critical of Nell but gradually, as they get to know each other and she realises that Nell is a hard worker, her attitude softens. Nell makes friends with Bryn who helps out on the farm until he joins the Merchant Navy and then later with a land girl called Maggie, who also comes from Liverpool, and Bryn's friend Hywel, with whom she falls in love.
Eventually Kath tells Nell her life story. She confides in her about her strained relationship with Nell's mother Trixie. John the man she loved but who died in the First World War, her subsequent marriage to his friend the Anglesey farmer Owain and the hostility she faced from Owain's grandmother who resented her presence because she thought Owain should have married a local girl.
I'm not a great lover of family saga type books but this was an enjoyable read and there is an unexpected happy ending.
Islands covered - Anglesey, Holy Island
Four Mile Bridge joining Holy Island and Anglesey
Cemaes, Anglesey
Trearddur Bay, Holy Island
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