Connie’s Courage

Connie’s Courage
Annie Groves

A stirring novel of passion, lost loves and one girl’s determination to conquer the odds from the author of Child of the Mersey.When Connie Pride finds herself alone and pregnant in the rough courts of Liverpool, she despairs. Deserted by her lover, menaced by his bullying uncle, and too proud to ask her estranged family for help, there seems no hope.Rescued from the gutter, she is offeredthe chance to train as a nurse at the Poor Hospital. Life becomes a whirl of hard work and long shifts, but also lively evenings at the music hall with her fellow nurses and the newly drafted soldiers. Finally Conniehas a purpose in life – especially when the wounded of World War 1 start to arrive in their droves on the hospital wards. Witha roof over her head and a steady wage, ifshe can stay out of trouble, the future looks brighter. Even love seems possible again …But then a face from the violent past turnsup to disrupt Connie’s new life and shatter her dreams. All she has built up is threatened – and she herself is in physical danger. Itwill take every ounce of the courage she possesses to overcome the odds – and a little help from old friends and new …

ANNIE GROVES

Connie’s Courage

I would like to dedicate this book to my mother who paid me the best compliment I have ever had in being so impatient to read Connie’s story. Here she is, Mum – I hope you like her!

Contents

Cover (#uf734f812-a903-5485-ab68-dbaa9b3ea415)

Title Page (#ub0167979-5ee9-5b8a-90fa-e5706e7a0022)

PART ONE (#u60f6252c-8e0c-5bf9-8444-aa9fd395355e)

ONE (#u987994d0-f3c3-50cc-8931-1dec2f43cc78)

TWO (#u349fb61d-6afa-57ab-8766-8c506205d493)

THREE (#uaf19ec51-7853-5ab3-be90-718c5be66c19)

FOUR (#u10bb39cf-b329-5b9c-9176-e23100267688)

FIVE (#ub40eaf4c-6cc1-5ea3-87bc-c6c37c0ec35c)

SIX (#u635787d3-10f0-52b4-939e-f681c826716c)

SEVEN (#ub587086b-257c-5657-bb0d-0f3d36aecde0)

EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

PART TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

PART THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

By the same author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PART ONE (#ulink_c4dcc102-9539-5d72-a335-239b8f22db34)

ONE (#ulink_caf28303-edcc-5552-a834-6e98f776363f)

1912

Connie admired her reflection in the old spotted mirror she had propped up on the small chest by the window to get the best light. Not that very much light did come in through the small, filthy window of the room she and Kieron were renting in one of Liverpool’s poorest areas – a huddle of terraced houses in an airless court down a narrow back alley – but Connie preferred not to think about their surroundings.

She had begged the landlord of the pub where she worked as a barmaid to let her take the mirror when his wife decided to throw it out. It was her sister Ellie who had always been considered the pretty one, and not her. She rubbed anxiously at her lips with a cloth, to try to give them a bit of colour, before applying a thin smear of Vaseline to them. She and Kieron might not have any money, but that did not mean she had to let herself go completely.

They might be living in straitened circumstances now, but things would be different once they got to America, she assured herself, picking up her skirts and whirling round, the reality of her situation forgotten, as her natural optimism brought an excited glow to her face. America! Oh, but she just couldn’t wait to get there!

‘We’re going to America. We’re going to America!’ she sang at the top of her voice, dizzy with anticipation and happiness.