England, 1941. After three nights of relentless bombing from German aircraft, trained nurse Jo Brooks is told to report to the basement theater of Mill Road Hospital. She goes with a heavy heart, not wanting to leave behind her best friend Moira, who is desperately soothing new mothers on the maternity ward. As Jo arrives safely underground, the ward takes a direct hit. 

Liverpool, 1863. Maud Linklater's life as a housemaid changes forever the day she takes poor little injured chimney sweep Alfie to hospital. Helping to care for him on the ward, Maud is unexpectedly offered a place as a trainee at the newly opened nursing school run by Ada Houston. Maud loves her new role and throws herself wholeheartedly into the busy, exhausting experience of living and working at the hospital. And she has a lot of fun along the way once she befriends fellow trainees, including the sweet Alice and chatterbox Edie.   

Flo Canning’s heart is beyond repair following the news that she has been dreading since the outbreak of war. As Flo throws herself into the role of fabric manager at Liberty’s, old and new friends alike help pull her from a whirl of despair. Between work and home life there’s plenty to keep Flo occupied. Not least new Deputy Store Manager, Henry Masters, whose arrival has consequences that Flo and her workmates could never have foreseen.

March, 1942: new mother Alice Milward is itching to return to her job as a shop assistant at Liberty’s. Despite her husband still being missing in action, Alice is determined to give baby Arthur the best possible start. She soon settles back into the rhythm of life on the shop floor, and the Liberty Girls rally to help keep everything on an even keel. But when the American GIs start swarming into London, there are more complications to come. And each of the Liberty Girls has their own impossible storm to weather. 

The compelling new best seller from the author of The Mersey Daughter and Winter on the Mersey. Alice Lake and her friend Edith have had everything thrown at them in their first year as district nurses in London’s East End. From babies born out of wedlock to battered wives, they’ve had plenty to keep them occupied. As rationing takes hold and Hitler’s bombers train their sights on London, there is no escaping the reality of being at war.