Elizabeth Waite

Carla Scofield has looked after her family since she was a teenager, but wartime brings new challenges and a new job for Carla in a sewing factory. It also brings with it love and Carla has a chance at real happiness - but not everyone is rooting for her. With Christmas ahead of her, and her sights set firmly on love and the future, will she be too distracted to sense the danger before it's too late?

Like most women in London's 1920s East End, Joan Baldwin has her crosses to bear. Her greatest by far is her husband - a violent drinker and gambler. When he perishes in a fire of his own drunken making, Joan is surprised by her sudden freedom. Then she meets Eric Roussel - an affluent, charismatic businessman - and it looks like happiness will finally be hers. But is he a little too slick to be trusted?

In the 1930s a sleepy Hampshire village has been totally untouched by the Depression. Villagers asked to give orphans from London a rural holiday are happy to co-operate. Emma and her family welcome Tommy and John, who soon become an important part of the family.

Becky Russell and Eleanor James were girls who deserved the best in life. But in suburban New Malden what is best for some may not be enough for others. During the heady years of the 1920s the girls remain friends, but they soon discover that in a rich man's world, the game of love is never simple ...

Barbara's first chance comes in 1945. A barrister's daughter, she runs away to marry her sailor sweetheart in secret, ignoring her parent's disapproval. When the marriage falls violently apart, she returns home and tries to rebuild her life. Then a second chance of happiness comes her way...

During an air-raid in WW2, Joan gives birth to a baby boy. When the hospital is hit by a bomb panic follows, and in the chaos Joan's baby is mis-tagged - this only comes to light twenty years later.