Böcker av Margaret Mayhew

Officer Felicity Newman and a ragtag group of young women arrive at RAF Colston. They are the first of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force: brave female pilots ready to do their bit. But Station Commander, David Palmer, doesn't want them. They're a nuisance, unable to do the work of men, and they would undoubtedly fall apart if the station was bombed.

In 1940, as the shadows are lengthening over Europe, painter Louis Duval decides to leave his studio in Brittany and, in his small motor boat, make the short but perilous journey to England. His aim is not to flee from the enemy, but to join the Resistance to fight for his beloved France.

In Singapore Susan Roper, secure in the supremacy of the British Empire, enjoys dancing,clothes and fast cars, tennis and light flirtations with visiting naval officers- her life is devoted solely to pleasure.

In his time living in the peaceful village of Frog's End, the Colonel has learned that although the place looks as lively as a stagnant pond, there is plenty going on. When he receives a letter from an old friend of his late wife, telling him that 'something horrible has happened' and asking for his help, he is intrigued and happy to assist her.

In the British sector was Squadron Leader Michael Harrison, a war hero who had helped to bomb Berlin into fragments. In the Russian sector was Lili Leicht, German, middle-class daughter of a university professor and now living in the ruins of her former home. As the tensions in the smoldering city grew worse, so Michael and Lili fell in love.

The Colonel is pleased when his old friend Geoffrey Cheetham invites him up to the village of Buckby for the weekend, to coincide with a RAF reunion event. His fellow guests at the Cheethams' B&B include a reunited Lancaster bomber crew. But the Colonel finds himself taking on the reluctant role of sleuth once more when tragedy strikes . . .

It is 1943, and three very different girls are longing to do their bit for the war effort. The three become friends when they join the band of women working the canal boats, delivering goods and doing a man's job while the men are away fighting. A tough, unglamorous task - but one which brings them all unexpected rewards.