Birmingham Blitz (51 page)
Wretched, I stroked his face and he took my hand and kissed it hard, a lot of times.
‘I’m sorry, Joe. I’m terribly sorry.’
‘No – I just wish I’d known. All that’s happened . . .’
‘D’you really love me – still, after all this?’
‘I could never not love you.’
I held on to him so tight. ‘I thought I’d lost everything. Almost everything. And then suddenly, oh Joe, you’re here.’
We kissed, his lips pouring new life into me. We sat there quietly in each other’s arms. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so happy while I was so sad.
‘You’re very hot,’ Joe said, feeling my head and neck. ‘Your nan said you’ve been really bad. She’s been worried about you.’
‘She must be,’ I said, cuddling against him in a haze of joy. ‘Otherwise she’d never’ve told a bloke to come up into my bedroom!’
After a time Joe tucked me back in bed and kissed me. I put my arms round his neck. ‘Don’t go,’ I said sleepily. ‘I might wake and find I dreamed you.’
‘You didn’t dream me. I’ll be back, love, every minute I can be.’ He watched my face. ‘I can’t believe my luck. Now we’ve just got to get you better.’
‘Oh, I’ll be better now. I’ll be better tomorrow!’
My eyes followed him to the door, candle in his hand. He turned, his lovely smile across the room more powerful than any medicine. ‘See you tomorrow. Goodnight, sweetheart.’
On 1 January 1941 the BBC launched a new programme called
Any Questions
which became very popular and was later renamed
The Brains Trust
. That day, I spent in my nan’s house, my home for now, with Nan, Lil and Cathleen, and Joe on the sofa by my side, my bony hand held in his. Gloria sat, newly polished and shiny on the table, the voices pouring out through her sunburst. Mister was on my lap, a fire in the grate, tea in our cups.
Joe’s eyes met mine as we first heard the posh, chattering voices and we laughed. I leaned into his arms and felt his kiss on the top of my head.
‘Hor hor hor’ laughed the chappies on the wireless. Lil’s eyes filled, although she was smiling. She looked round at us all. ‘Wouldn’t Len have loved this?’
A
NNIE
M
URRAY
was born in Berkshire and read English at St John’s College, Oxford. Her first Birmingham novel,
Birmingham Rose
, hit
The Times
bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has subsequently written thirteen other successful novels, including, most recently,
A Hopscotch Summer
and
Soldier Girl
. Annie Murray has four children and lives in Reading.
A
LSO
BY
A
NNIE
M
URRAY
Birmingham Rose
Birmingham Friends
Orphan of Angel Street
Poppy Day
The Narrowboat Girl
Chocolate Girls
Water Gypsies
Miss Purdy’s Class
Family of Women
Where Earth Meets Sky
The Bells of Bournville Green
A Hopscotch Summer
Soldier Girl
This story was originally conceived round the concept of the new and powerful influence of radio during the Second World War. Each chapter was prefaced by part of a contemporary song which in some way reflected its contents. Regrettably, because of the extremely high copyright costs of reproducing quotations from songs, these have had to be omitted from the finished book. However, readers who are familiar with the lyrics of the time might like to supply a suitable song for themselves as they go along.
Special thanks are due to the Birmingham people who generously gave their time to talk to me about ‘their war’: Elsie Ashmore and Nancy Holmes for their hospitality and frankness, Doris Burke who was a star and prepared to answer any number of daft questions, Rose and Jack Hall with whom I spent a great afternoon (Jack makes the best chips in Birmingham, if not the world), and Eric Langston for his welcome and his memories. A particular thank you also to Joe Mattiello who made himself available at unexpected moments and was a rich vein of information, and to my parents, George and Jackie Summers, who have frequently cast their minds back fifty or more years at a few seconds’ notice.
Thanks also to Martin Parsons at Reading University, to Dr Rob Perks, Oral History Curator at the National Sound Archive, to Tony Doe and Concept Creative Productions.
There are a great many excellent books available about the Home Front during World War II and I drew on a variety of them, but none deserves mention more than Angus Calder’s comprehensive and humane book
The People’s War
. Thanks also go to Birmingham’s Tindal Memory Writing Group which convened to produce
Writing It Down Before It’s All Gone
, edited by Alan Mahar, which is a repeated source of inspiration.
First published 1998 by Pan Books
This edition published 2010 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2011 Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-447-20464-0 EPUB
Copyright © Annie Murray 1998
The right of Annie Murray to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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