Genre ~ historical fiction ~ WWI
Publication date ~ July 20, 2023
Page count ~ 382
I am delighted to share an extract today ~ thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for organizing.
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Extract:
Lili joins a meeting at the hotel, to raise money for the war, hoping it will take her mind off her problems.
Lili removed her apron as she made her way to the staff area. That had been a busy luncheon for a Wednesday in October. It was as if the sunshine had encouraged everyone out, for who knew how many more mild days there’d be? The guests had all been pleasant enough, even Mrs Carmichael. Still, she was looking forward to a sit down and it would be the early staff afternoon tea soon.
‘Lili, good.’ Mrs Bygrove came out of the kitchen. ‘Would you join us for a quick meeting about some Christmas charity events?’
She was tired, but Lili was always pleased to be included in these. It made her feel useful, beyond her paid job, as if she had something valuable to contribute. Thinking about helping others was what she needed to take her mind off Norman.
Dear Norman.
‘We’re in the dining room,’ said Mrs Bygrove.
Lili followed her and found a few people there already. ‘What will we be collecting money for this time?’ said Fanny, half-dismissively.
‘Christmas boxes for the troops abroad,’ said Edie, leaning against the table.
‘S’pose that’s a good thing.’ Fanny took a seat and the others followed suit.
Mrs Bygrove opened her mouth to speak, when the door was flung open and her husband entered. He was standing tall, with that haughty expression he liked to display, looking down on all of them as if they were dirt on his shoes.
‘Ah, here you are. Having your little women’s meeting about charity dos, are you? Well, while you’ve been doing this, I’ve been left to make the serious decisions, as usual.’
Even Fanny raised her eyes heavenward, while Mrs Leggett pinched her lips together.
‘Leslie and Stanley, those witless twins, have enrolled in the Derby Scheme, so no doubt will be off to the army soon.’
‘Not necessarily, dear,’ said his wife. ‘It could be months.’
‘I’m not going to be left in the lurch again so I’m off to put an advertisement in the Littlehampton Gazette for more male staff. We might even get some more porters and waiters, and the women can then go back to the jobs they’re capable of.’
There were several offended intakes of breath from the women, but only Mrs Bygrove spoke.
‘That is very unfair, Douglas. The women have done an exemplary job, all of them who’ve replaced the men.’
‘We’ll have to beg to differ on that one. And those twins, they’ve only gone and got those silky khaki brassards to sew on their jackets, so everyone can see they’ve enrolled. I warned them, they’re not to sew them on their porters’ jackets.’
‘At least they’re willing to do something for their country.’ Helen smiled benignly.
‘Huh! All the good they’ll be, out at the Front. There’s nothing to them. They’ll be blown away by the first explosion they encounter.’
‘Oh, that’s not nice, Mr Bygrove,’ Gertie piped up, her eyes wide with shock.
‘Enough of your lip, Miss Green. Anyway, After I’ve been to the Gazette, I’m off to have afternoon tea with some councillors to see if I can’t summon up more trade for the hotel. I really don’t know what we’d do without my connections.’
He was about to leave when Mrs Leggett said: ‘I think you’re forgetting, Mr Bygrove, that The Defence of the Realm Act states that you are not able to employ men between eighteen and sixty for non-essential work.’
‘Pff. There’s bound to be a few who can’t enlist for some reason or other. I hear flat feet’s one of the categories. Doesn’t stop them walking around a restaurant or the foyer.’
‘I think you’re missing the—’ the housekeeper started.
But he marched back through the open door, not bothering to shut it.
Mrs Bygrove said nothing for a few seconds. Eventually she looked around at them all. ‘Now, where were we?’
‘The event for the soldiers’ Christmas gifts,’ said Mrs Turnbull.
‘Of course. We’ll hold this event on the twenty-second of November. The money’s going to Miss Sophia Perryman, who runs the Arun Children’s Aid project and is now also in charge of organising the Christmas boxes from this area.’
‘Is it going to be similar to the do we put on for the injured soldiers from the hospital?’ said Lili, her hand up as if she were at school.
‘No. I want to hold more of a concert this time, sit down, with the public buying tickets.’
‘They won’t be wanting extra singers will they?’ she asked reluctantly.
‘I’m not sure. Would you like to sing again, Lili? I could ask Mr Janus.’
‘Oh, no. What I mean is, I’d rather not. Not after what…’ She didn’t want to say the words, after what happened last time I sang. It was like her singing was a bad portent. That was nonsense, of course, but she felt it all the same.
Book blurb:
Can she choose between her duty and her heart?
While World War One changes the country beyond measure, with food becoming scarce and Britain’s young men being called up to foreign battlefields, it is harder than ever to keep the grand Beach Hotel in Littlehampton running smoothly.
Waitress Lili Probert, a young woman who escaped her demanding family in Wales in search of a new life in Sussex, has seen her hard work rewarded at the Beach Hotel, but hides heartbreak behind her sunny personality. Her sweetheart, Norman, is missing in action and has been presumed dead, but she cannot give up hope that he may be found.
But when she meets injured soldier Rhodri, a fellow Welshman now living near Littlehampton, she fights hard to ignore her growing attraction for him, torn between her feelings for him and her loyalty to the man she thought she’d spend her life with.
But her emotions run ever higher when she suddenly receives a call from home; her mother is gravely ill and Lili is needed for her care. Returning to Wales, Lili must make a difficult choice. Follow her dreams and make her own life, or return to the place she tried so hard to escape?
Torn between her duty and her heart, Lili faces her own battle far from the conflicts in Europe…
Purchase Link
Amazon: https://amzn.to/40AuFWR
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3HhxBkC
Apple: https://apple.co/3oISBKC
Author Bio –
Francesca has enjoyed writing since she was a child. Born in Worthing and brought up in Littlehampton in Sussex, she was largely influenced by a Welsh mother who was brilliant at improvised story telling. A history graduate and qualified teacher, she decided to turn her writing hobby into something more in 2006, when she joined a writing class.
Writing as both Francesca Capaldi and Francesca Burgess, she has had many short stories published in magazines in the UK and abroad, along with several pocket novels published by DC Thomson.
Her Welsh World War 1 sagas were inspired by the discovery of the war record of her great grandfather, a miner in South Wales. Her latest series, The Beach Hotel, is set in her own childhood town, where her Italian father had a café on the riverside.
Francesca is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. She currently lives on the North Downs in Kent with her family and a cat called Lando Calrission.
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