Look within your heart (by Margaret Graham)

(Amazon UK link)

I had not heard of Margaret Graham. But her book 'Look within your heart' was another that looked interesting when I was browsing in a second-hand shop.

The novel opens as Belle and her daughter Connie await Walter's return from the war. When he finally arrives, he is changed beyond recognition. He has had some very harrowing experiences. Moreover, he is plagued with guilt that he survived, when so many didn't.

Walter takes the family to Newcastle to establish a shelter for ex-armymen. He also takes Binnie, an unmarried mother, with her daughter Dora.

As Connie grows up, she feels constantly haunted by Dora, and eventually escapes abroad.

It's a reasonably happy ending, and I found the book quite moving in places, but it wasn't one I particularly liked. Recommended if you like books set in the war years, but I doubt if I'll re-read it.