Rachel Booker has a difficult start in life. When her father dies, deep in gambling debt, her mother must harden herself to make ends meet, but becomes so hard she has little room left for affection or warmth. Mother and daughter work at the open market in Birmingham, selling second-hand clothes or whatever they can find just to put a little food on the table.

But the market has a silver lining: it's there that Rachel makes her first childhood friend, Danny. As they grow older, the friendship grows into something more and their innocent romance gives Rachel the care and comfort she's always craved. But at just sixteen, as World War II breaks out, Rachel falls pregnant. They marry in haste but it isn't long before Danny is called up.

Left on the home front with a new baby and little else, Rachel must scrape by with the other residents of Sparkbrook. But if Danny ever makes it home, will he be the same boy she loved so fiercely? And if Rachel can sustain the family until then, will she end up as hard-hearted as her own mother?

Annie Murray's War Babies is a moving and insightful novel about hardships on the home front and how the war changed everybody it touched . . .

From the bestselling author of Chocolate Girls comes a heartwarming novel set on the struggling suburban streets of Birmingham during WW2

About the Author
Annie Murray 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 many other successful novels, including A Hopscotch Summer, Soldier Girl and the bestselling Chocolate Girls. Annie has four children and lives near Reading.

Reviews
A moving, sweeping saga of dreams, dramas and dilemmas * Lancashire Evening Post *
Chocolate Girls - This epic saga will have you gripped from start to finish * Birmingham Evening Mail *
Birmingham Rose - An exceptional first novel * Chronicle *
Birmingham Friends - A meaty family saga with just the right mix of mystery and nostalgia * Parents' Magazine *
Birmingham Blitz - A tale of passion and empathy which will keep you hooked * Woman's Own *
The Narrowboat Girl - Classy historical fiction - heartwarming and full of adventure * Newswatch UK *
War Babies is a tender romance with a warm heart, an authentic sense of time and place and a gritty streak of realism * Lancashire Evening Post *
Annie Murray puts the heart into heart-warming * Mature Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9781447234029
Author Annie Murray
Format Paperback
Page Count 480
Imprint Pan Books
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 322g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 131mm * 36mm