Safer Under the Stairs

Although not directly autobiographical, these stories are inspired by the author's own experience and that of her generation during the Second World War and in the years that followed.



In this thematically linked collection, the stand-out story is 'What Dreams May Come' where Cecile, haunted by her childhood memories of the Nazi Occupation of France, returns to her village for the 50th anniversary of D-Day to confront her ghosts. During the war, her father was shot by the Nazis because of his resistance work. Cecile took refuge in a nunnery where three Jewish children were being hidden. However, German reprisals reached the convent. Though Cecile survived she never learnt the fate of these children. Fifty years on she hopes to discover the truth.



'Splintered' is about two children, Elena and Isabel, and their wartime experiences: neglected, out of school, running wild in the London suburbs. They encounter ex-convict Canadian soldiers and Italian POWs, are bombed out of their home and get involved in the black market. This is the vivid and atmospheric story from a child's eye view of the Home Front.



The other stories feature tales of the Blitz ('Safer Under The Stairs'), Paris directly after the war ('Le Ciel Qui Pleut'), a young woman waiting for her fiancée who is missing, presumed killed in action ('These Foolish Things'), refugees from Malta ('The Meeting') and the V2 rocket campaign ('Scrag End'). Overall, the collection offers a kaleidoscopic view of civilian life during a war that still casts its shadow over us all today.



This is a powerfully evocative collection of stories, combining the cinematic with the poetic. Together, they offer a fascinating and intimate portrait of lives changed forever by momentous events, and a lyrical, often moving insight into a period that shaped our world and left its indelible marks on our consciousness.