Katie King - The Evacuee Summer - Heart-warming historical fiction, perfect for summer reading

Mabel had come out to see them off and she held up her hands in silent applause, and Roger couldn’t resist a little smirk in her direction, at which Mabel gave a dismissive downward wave of her hand, with a jolly call of ‘Gi’ over, Roger!’

This time they were out for quite a while longer, during which time Roger picked up the rudiments of driving the trap quite quickly, mastering the firm tones needed for the hups, walk-ons, giddy-ups and whoas much more easily than he or anyone else had expected, indeed so much so that the children quickly became bored again as there was a lot of walking, trotting, turning and stopping, and categorically no drama at all. Then Ted announced that it was getting on and Milburn had probably had almost enough, although they were going to give her a step out into the country before they brought her back to Tall Trees, and so while Ted didn’t mind giving each of the children a turn at driving the trap tomorrow, what he could say was that it wasn’t going to happen today and that the children should probably make their way home without them, to see what Tommy and Angela were up to.

It had been brewing for a while, but at this confirmation of nothing in it for them any longer, the children soon lost the last remnants of interest and, challenged by Larry to a race, they peeled off to gallop home as quickly as they could without even the tiniest moan of disappointment.

It was a much happier-looking Roger who drove the trap back into the yard half an hour later, and then untacked and sponged down a now sweaty Milburn, before popping her back in the neatly mucked-out stall that Tommy had got ready, all executed without a hitch.

He and Ted stood back to watch her drink, and then nodded at each other in the way that men sometimes do when they feel a job has been well done.

When Roger and Ted went into the kitchen it was to find Mabel, Peggy and Barbara all looking engrossed as they leant over the kitchen table.

Peggy got up to give Ted a hug, and he tried not to show his shock at the sight of her blotchy face and her bloodshot eyes peeping at him from underneath their swollen lids.

Peggy gave Ted a weak half-smile and then turned again to the kitchen table, which was covered with a swathe of white cotton fabric delicately sprigged with red, pink and blue summer flowers, and soon the women had their heads bent close together once more as they tried to pin the fabric to a pattern for a summer dress for Connie and eke out in the spaces around this enough material for a summer blouse for Peggy. It was like they were doing a very complicated jigsaw puzzle.

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