War Babies

By Rachel Billington

A woman lies unconscious on the carpet of a smart Westminster apartment, one red high-heeled shoe has fallen off... A younger woman lies with her eyes closed, half-hidden under a drinks cabinet... Her fingers clutch an empty bottle... What happens when a mother withholds her love? When she has no love to withhold? When she sees her three daughters as obstacles to her own formidable career? This is the story of three sisters, Millie, Di and Cleo. They are the war babies. Growing up in a world still in turmoil, hungover from war, the sisters struggle to leave behind their mother and build their own lives. Each sister is lost in her own world where extreme need leads to extreme behaviour. Then a tragic event forces Cleo, the youngest and wildest, to become the catalyst to smash the pattern. Who will adapt and survive in this new world? Who will find peace? From London to New York and to Vietnam, the focus shifts from one sister to the next, putting human nature, its flaws and its virtues, under the spotlight. With elements of a psychological thriller, Rachel Billington observes her characters with clinical detachment, but also with wit and understanding. Yet there is hope at the heart of this story which will leave the reader wondering long after the final twist is revealed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Universe
• Release date: May 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9781911397120

Rachel Billington

Rachel Billington has written over thirty books. In 2012 she was awarded an OBE for Services to Literature. Her most recent books were the historical novels, Maria and the Admiral and Glory: A Story of Gallipoli. As a journalist, columnist and reviewer, she has contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines worldwide, including the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the New York Times, The Spectator and The Oldie. She is Associate Editor and contributor to Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners. She is a trustee of the Longford Trust and the Tablet magazine. She was President of English PEN from 1998-2001. Rachel is married with four children and five grandchildren and lives with her husband in London and the oldest continuously inhabited house in Dorset.