Mersey Girl [antikvár]

Chapter One Elizabeth Knight's feet made hardly any sound as she crossed the polished wooden parquet floor, past the statue of the Madonna of the Sea, to Mother Clare's room. Mother Ursula, the head, must be busy elsewhere. Her heart was beating fast. It was very seldom she was summoned into Mother Clare's presence and she wished Mother Bernard who had come to fetch her, had given her some idea as to why. She hoped her father was not going to stop her riding lessons. Last time she had been summoned had been almost three years ago, early in spring 1944, when her mother had been killed somewhere between their London home and Radio House where she had worked. It had seemed ironic that Elizabeth's father had been stationed on the Kentish coast at the time, trying to prevent the doodlebugs from getting through. He had been devastated by his wife's loss, much more so than Elizabeth who had spent most of her childhood and the war years as a boarder here in Essex. She knocked and was told to enter. Mother Clare was seated behind a desk, in front of which stood a woman who was a stranger to Elizabeth. She wore a belted russet coat and a headscarf which had slipped back to reveal