[Campion Family 01] • Across the Mersey

From the author of ‘The Grafton Girls’ comes the story of one Liverpool family preparing for the onslaught of World War Two, while trying not to fight among themselves.Jean and Vi are twins but couldn’t be more different. Jean’s proud of her honest, hardworking husband and their children, but there’s never a penny to spare. Vi’s equally proud of her husband’s new role as a local councillor and their elegant new house, and has raised her children to expect the best.As war breaks out, agonising decisions must be faced. Should the oldest children enlist? Should the youngest be evacuated? All the traditional certainties are overturned. Then the twins’ own younger sister, singer Francine, returns home unexpectedly and stirs up the past, even in the midst of present danger.This is a tremendous saga of fighting spirit and family closeness, and the belief that even though today is full of destruction and pain, there is hope for a better tomorrow.

Annie Groves lives in the North-West of England and has done so of all her life. She is also the author of Ellie Pride, Connie’s Courage and Hettie of Hope Street, a series of novels for which she drew upon her own family's history, picked up from listening to her grandmother's stories when she was a child. Her most recent novels are Goodnight Sweetheart, Some Sunny Day, The Grafton Girls and As Time Goes By, which are based on recollections from members of her family who come from the city of Liverpool. Annie Groves also writes under the name Penny Jordan and has written over 170 books and sold over 84 million copies.