Written for readers who have finished Book 1.
Mr Pengelly is the farmer who takes Edie in — large, undemonstrative, and kinder than a wary London girl first knows how to trust. He carries her case up the lane the night she arrives and says little, but the little he says is plain and true. He becomes, quietly, a different kind of steady grown-up in a world where Edie's own father is away at sea.
Bill Fletcher is Edie's father — an East-End dockman who signs on with the merchant navy and sails the…
Edie Fletcher is ten years old when the war sends her away — a London girl put on a train with a label round…
Hettie is the Pengelly farm's most disagreeable hen — big, rusty, bad-tempered, and nobody's friend, and the…
Joan Pengelly is Tom's older sister, on the edge of grown-up when Edie arrives — a careful politeness that…
Mrs Hooper is Vera's neighbour and friend in Bethnal Green — the Fletchers' London anchor, all sharp opinions…
Mrs Pengelly is Edie's billet host — the gruff, fair, unsentimental Devon farm wife who is the hardest person…