Apple blossom time

by Kathryn Haig

'There are ghosts. The air is buzzing with them and I have to sit and listen while they whisper to me ... ' Edwin Anstey died a hero's death in France in 1918. Of that his daughter, Laura, had been assured by everyone in the village of Anstey Parva. But they were all strangely reluctant to talk about this hero, whose name did not appear on the village war memorial along with other fallen soldiers. Was there some terrible secret? Why was Laura not allowed to know about her father, whom she had never seen? A child of the Great War, Laura was twenty when the Second World War broke out, and as an Anstey she had to do her bit. In the ATS she was posted to Egypt and learned at first hand about war and what it means. She found love - or thought she had - but realised, almost too late, that her heart belonged much nearer home. And always, haunting her, was her father - handsome (she believed), brave (she hoped) but always, mysteriously, absent.