FROM THE ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF THE LAST PEARL AND THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER, this is a beautiful and dramatic novel about family secrets, wartime betrayal and redemption.

When Isobel Morton takes over the cafe in Lichfield's market square, she has big plans. Soon renamed The Victory Cafe, with a menu that delights despite rations, the girls who work at the Vic are swept away by Belle's lust for life.

Among the regular customers is a trio of soldiers from the nearby American base and waitress Dorrie Goodman soon befriends them, learning about jazz and romance in the process. But the stifling morality of a Midlands town in the 40s cannot accommodate such a friendship; jealously, hatred and the weight of public disapproval combine to precipitate a tragedy.

It is not until many years after the war that friendship and reconciliation can begin to heal the wounds of the past ...

Praise for Leah Fleming'I enjoyed it enormously.It's a moving and compelling story about a lifetime's journey in search of the truth' RACHEL HORE'A born storyteller' KATE ATKINSON