Queen of the Mersey by Maureen Lee
It is Liverpool, 1939. The Second World War is about to start when pretty Laura Oliver meets Queenie Todd. Laura is twenty-one and happily married to dashing Roddy. Plain, inadequate Queenie is only fourteen and has been deserted by her goodtime mother. The two become friends, along with big-hearted Vera Monoghan across the street. When the air raids begin the older women trust Queenie sufficiently to put their small daughters, Hester and Mary, into her care and the three young people are evacuated to Caerdovey, a small town on the coast of Wales. At first it is a haven of peace and quiet. The girls have a wonderful time and then something happens, so terrifying that it will haunt them for the rest of their lives. This unputdownable story tells of great friendships and terrible betrayals. Maureen Lee has written a novel full of the warmth and perception we have come to expect from her.