Shoes for Anthony (42 page)

Behind me, a voice came from the doorway. ‘Well, well! Look at this! Little man! You're a dandy and no mistake!' It was Alf, come to pick up Bethan.

‘Doesn't he look amazing?' she said, leaning up to give Alf a kiss.

‘You'd never think he smells of mould,' said Emrys, smiling.

‘Not any more, he won't.' said Alwyn. ‘Not in those togs. You look right proper, Ant. Right proper.'

I looked up towards my family and smiled. ‘Can I go out, Mam?' I asked. ‘I won't get it dirty.'

‘Mind you don't,' she said. ‘Go on, then. You can go and show your pals.'

I stepped out onto Scott Street and stared down again at my shoes. There was only one thing I wanted to do. I looked up towards our mountain, thoughts of Ade and Father beaming through me, and I ran.

Uffarn den – hell fire

Uffach wyllt – wild wind

Cera yffarn – go to hell

Diawl – devil

Duw – God

First and foremost I need to thank my father, Anthony Williams, on whom much of this book is based. A lot of young Anthony's story is based on my father's own experiences of growing up in Treherbert during the war years. I am also indebted to my Aunts Jean and Gwennie and my uncles John and Gary who helped with Welsh spellings, reminded me of the Nit Nurse, told me what it was like to go underground and taught me the rules of Catty and Doggy.

A lot of research was required and
A Moment in History
by Bryan Morse, the story of the American Army in the Rhondda in 1944, proved to be invaluable in helping me get my facts right.

The cigarette card that Anthony reads from is a Wills Cigarette Card called Rubber Clothing.

The song the boys sing as the Mosquitoes fly off on their mission is ‘Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye', a song written by Harry Parr-Davies and made popular by Gracie Fields.

The copy for the Regal Shoes ad stuck on Anthony's wall was taken from a vintage magazine ad.

Appointment with Fear
was a real show and the extract that appears in this book is taken from an episode broadcast on May 18 1944. It was called ‘The Clock Strikes Eight' and was written by John Dickson Carr. I have spliced and edited much of it but you can still listen to the entire episode on the internet. It's suitably melodramatic.

Bopa reads extracts from the instructional pamphlet ‘Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain'. This is from the 1942 edition and was issued to all American personnel by the War Department.

Cloches versus Hitler
is also a real book that was very popular at the time. It was written by Charles Wyse-Gardner.

Anthony's exam paper is the real one that would have been sat that summer in 1944. It was issued by the Rhondda Education Committee.

I also need to thank many followers on Twitter who, apart from keeping me going as I was writing the manuscript, helped me out with various small queries, but special mention must go to Lynne Clark who helped me out with some RAF St Athan intel.

Enormous thanks must also be showered without reservation upon my wonderful team at Ebury – my amazing editor Jake Lingwood, his assistant Emily Yau and my brilliant copy editor Samantha Bulos. All of you keep me on the straight and narrow and make me better than I am. Thank you.

I am blessed to have a wonderful agent in Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown who looks after me so beautifully and takes me for the best lunches. Don't ever leave me.

And last but not least, to my darling Georgie, who puts up with everything.

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Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
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Copyright © Emma Kennedy, 2015

Emma Kennedy has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

First published in 2015 by Ebury Press

www.eburypublishing.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Hardback ISBN 9780091956622
Trade paperback ISBN 9781785030734