I really liked this book. It begins with a description of an old Historic House in England. At the end of this prologue we learn that an old woman is sitting on a bench - she is dead and clasping a letter in her hand. Now the book rewinds to 1939 and an England on the brink of war. Students of history know that thousands of children were evacuated from London out to the countryside for safety reasons. It is a bit unimaginable to think of young children being taken from their homes and parents (or mothers in most cases) to an entirely foreign environment to live with strangers and in some cases scores of other young refugees. This is the story of Anna. Her father is away fighting the war and young Anna finds herself on a train to the unknown. She ends up with 70 other children on an estate owned by a crippled man and his beautiful wife. (They have a story to tell.) The book follows Anna's time in exile and up to the end of her life. Ms. Alison does a wonderful job of showing the effects of childhood experiences on the rest of one's life.
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