Joanna Toye: Wartime for the Shop Girls

War brings changes three friends could never foresee… It's 1942 and as shortages of staff - and goods - begin to bite, young Lily Collins is nervously stepping up to sales junior at Marlow's department store. Bombs are still falling and Lily and fellow shop girls Gladys and Beryl need a stiff upper lip to wave boyfriends, husbands and brothers goodbye, especially with a baby on the way and grim news on the wireless. Jim, who works with Lily at the store, seems restless, and nothing can prepare Lily for the secrets that come tumbling out when her favourite brother comes home on leave… Somehow, she must keep smiling through. Community, family and friends rally round as her home town - and the whole country - is tested once again.