The Land Girls

Book excerpt: Hull, 1943. Seventeen-year-old Muriel Dearlove has weathered the Blitz unscathed, earning her keep in Miss Chapman's grocery shop. But with her sweetheart Bill away fighting and and her friends conscripted into the WRENs and WAAF, life has become tedious. Then a friend returns from a stint in the Land Army, rosy cheeked and healthier than ever thanks to the outdoor work she has been doing on Northumberland's farms. She also comes with tales of dances with the troops stationed nearby and high jinks with her fellow Land Girls. Desperate for the chance to broaden her horizons, Muriel signs up. But getting back to the land is not all about making hay in the sunshine. The reality is long days of back-breaking work with little thanks from the hard-nosed warden Mrs Hubbard. Meanwhile the relationship between the Land Girls and the locals has reached crisis point. Then Muriel meets Ernst, a German prisoner of war, and has a choice to make. In fraternizing with the enemy she breaks the law, but to never see Ernst again would break her heart.