Marlow's Department Store

It's 1941 and young Lily Collins is starting work in Midlands department store Marlow's, whose gleaming facade has fascinated her since childhood. As the air raid sirens blare, Lily learns the ropes from her sophisticated boss Miss Frobisher alongside shy fellow junior Gladys. But her burgeoning friendship with young salesman Jim draws her into a swirl of secrets within the store. And with the war progressing to crisis point, Cedric Marlow and his staff must battle nightly bombings and the absence of loved ones to keep going. From a former writer of The Archers comes a novel that weaves together a powerful sense of community and a vivid evocation of a time when every man, woman and child was doing their bit.

The third book in the gripping wartime drama series set around a town's department store It's 1943 and young Lily Collins is throwing herself into a welcome home party for her friend Beryl's husband. Shyly starting to be more than just good friends with their lodger, Jim, Lily's life seems good and Les's safe return is something to celebrate. But when Les returns he is a changed man from his time in the desert war. And home life is getting harder too - Marlow's, the town's department store where Lily and Jim work, will be forced to adapt and make some difficult decisions with shortages biting and staff harder to retain. When Jim is called away to the countryside, where an old flame would like him to stay, it's all too easy for Lily to be charmed by attentive visiting salesman Frank. Then comes the knock on the door everyone dreads - and hot on its heels comes a further shock. Family, always the heart of Lily's world, is everything - but will it ever be the same again?

Uplifting and heartwarming: drama, courage and romance at Marlow’s department store this Christmas For Lily Collins and her fellow shop girls at Marlow’s Department store, another Christmas with ration books, shortages of goods and staff – not to mention a store coping with war damage – will be a real challenge. But the girls rally round and put their worries aside to make this, the hardest wartime Christmas yet, one that their families, and their town, will never forget.