Gracie's Sin

Copyright © 2002 and 2011 by Freda Lightfoot.

All rights reserved.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. Nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISBN
978-0-9568119-4-3

Published by
Freda Lightfoot 2011

This is a book I couldn’t put down . . .
 
a great read!

South Wales Evening Post
on The Girl From Poorhouse Lane

Another heartwarming tale from a master story-teller. For All Our Tomorrows.

Lancashire Evening Post

The Favourite Child
 
(In the top 20 of the Sunday Times hardback bestsellers
)

a compelling and fascinating tale

Middlesborough Evening Gazette

A stirring tale of a woman with an iron purpose

The Keswick Reminder

Kitty Little is a charming novel encompassing the provincial theatre of the early 20
^th
century, the horrors of warfare and timeless affairs of the heart.

The West Briton

The Bobbin Girls

an informative and lively read

West Briton

A bombshell of an unsuspected secret rounds off a romantic saga narrated with pace and purpose and fuelled by conflict.

The Keswick Reminder

Luckpenny Land

paints a vivid picture of life on the fells during the war.  Enhanced by fine historical detail and strong characterisation it is an endearing story...’

Westmorland Gazette

An entertaining saga

Manchester Evening News

Three young women craving adventure join the Women’s Timber Corps --

All for different reasons. . .

Lou sees it as a way to stay near her lovely new husband.
 
Instead it brings heartache and tears, fear and betrayal.
 
But it is she who holds the friends together when the going gets tough.

For Rose it means escape from her bullying brother. But her desperate search for love and acceptance leads the fun loving girl to change and be willing to inflict the same cold hearted treatment upon others; even her closest friends.

Gracie simply falls in love with the uniform and then commits the greatest sin of all: falling in love with the enemy. This puts at risk her freedom, her patriotism, the respect of her friends and even her life.

After the rigours of forestry training in Cornwall under Matron’s steely gaze, and a spell as acting air-raid wardens, the trio are posted to Grizedale forest in the Lake district where they love the outdoor life and new challenges; the knowledge that they are doing their bit. But their enemy is the war, and faith and friendship are tested to the utmost in their efforts to survive.

I am indebted to Elsie Taylor and to Betty Kirkland for the information they made available to me on the Timber Corps and the nature of the work they did. They kindly checked my manuscript and pointed out my mistakes which I hope I’ve accurately corrected, though I have still allowed my own timber girls to use tents on one brief project, which they would be unlikely to do in reality. I hope they will forgive me. My thanks also go to Ulverston Library for the information on Grizedale Hall. For the sake of story telling, I have taken a few liberties with the facts here too. Grizedale Hall was a Grade One Security Prison for high ranking German Luftwaffe and U-Boat Officers. It would be against the Geneva convention for them to do manual work on the land, or to be allowed the kind of freedom that I give my fictional PoWs. In every other respect, I have made the setting and situation as accurate as possible. You can read more about Betty and Elsie in the article The Forgotten Army at the end of this ebook.

T
able of Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Epilogue

The Forgotten Army

A Sneak Preview of For All Our Tomorrows

Also by Freda Lightfoot available as ebooks

About Freda Lightfoot

1942

The train shuddered to a halt at Bodmin Road Station on a gasp of steam. There was no indication on this wooded, country platform that this was the correct destination, all signs having being painted out because of the war. Passengers scrambled to their feet and began to lift down bags from the overhead luggage racks.

‘Is this it? Have we arrived already?’ Lou felt an unexpected stinging at the backs of her eyes, and a small sob escaped as she squeezed closer to Gordon’s side in the overcrowded carriage. He grasped her hand, held on to it tightly and Lou was pleased to see that even her husband’s normally cheeky grin was a bit lop sided.

She’d meant to be so brave, so matter-of-fact when the moment came for them to part and here she was on the point of blubbing. But then they’d only been married five minutes. Two whole weeks in actual fact but it felt like five minutes. A month ago she hadn’t even known Gordon Mason existed, now he was her husband. The very thought made her insides turn to water with excitement.

It all started when Lou and her friend Sybil had decided to spend a week in the West Country on a much needed holiday. They’d found cheap digs in Brixham and were having the time of their lives, paddling in the sea, sitting on beaches, exploring quaint harbours and pretending there wasn’t a war on at all. Then up had strolled a couple of sailors and that was that. Within seconds her whole life had changed. Sybil had given Gordon the glad eye of course, as she usually did with a good looking man, but it was clear from the start it was Lou he fancied. He’d proposed to her that very first day.

The following morning, having smuggled him in through her landlady’s back pantry window and up to their room where he’d slept like a lamb on the floor, after a few satisfying clinches of course, Lou had sent a telegram to her mam, telling her not to expect her home. At the end of the week poor Sybil had returned alone to the factory in Rochdale, where they both wove silk for parachutes, in something of a huff, while Lou set about making other plans for her life.

 
The landlady of their digs had been sporting enough to stand for her at the short wedding ceremony, choosing to wear a pink flowered hat and leopard skin coat for the occasion and taking it quite in her stride that these two young people who had only just met, should rush into lifelong matrimony. ‘Happens every day dear,’ she told them. ‘What with the war, and all those poor lonely sailor boys. I’d wed one meself, given half a chance.’

‘She’d be better off adopting one,’ Gordon had remarked with one of his wry grins.