Cousins, Classmates and a Dog Called Rover

By Rachel Larkinson

Susan lives with her mum and dad, her two younger brothers and her dog Rover in a remote village in the flat fen county of Lincolnshire. The year is 1956 and life is still hard after the Second World War. But the summer holidays are just starting, and Susan is looking forward to spending long, carefree days with her friends. Then she hears some news that changes her whole life. Two cousins, whose mother has died, are coming to live with her family from the northern city of Leeds. Sharing a bedroom with them is bad enough, but the cousins, called Maria and Juliet, are soon bored with life in the countryside and start to cause trouble at home and in school. A new kitten helps to bring everyone together, but just as things are settling down, a mysterious letter arrives from Leeds. Then a stranger brings some early Christmas presents and Susan wonders what is going to happen next. Will they all be spending Christmas together or not?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jun 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398428188

Rachel Larkinson

Rachel Larkinson grew up in the Lincolnshire Fens, attended Spalding High School and then read Classics at St Anne’s College, Oxford. Some years later, she was awarded a BD degree at London University and an MPhil from Sheffield. She has held posts in teaching and community work in different parts of England and lived for four years in Sierra Leone. She and her husband have three grown-up children and two grandchildren, and are now living in rural Hampshire.

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About the Author

Rachel Larkinson grew up in the Lincolnshire Fens, attended Spalding High School and then read Classics at St Anne’s College, Oxford. Some years later, she was awarded a BD degree at London University and an MPhil from Sheffield. She has held posts in teaching and community work in different parts of England and lived for four years in Sierra Leone. She and her husband have three grown-up children and two grandchildren, and are now living in rural Hampshire.

Dedication

Dedicated to Rose and Zara, with love.

Copyright Information ©

Rachel Larkinson 2023

The right of Rachel Larkinson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398428171 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398428188 (ePub e-book)

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First Published 2023

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Chapter 1

July 1956, The First Day of the

School Holidays

It was the first day of the school Summer holidays and the sun was shining. I felt so happy, thinking of all those weeks ahead with no school, no boring lessons, and the freedom to do as we liked. I was going round to play with my friend, Ann, but first I was going to take our dog, Rover, for a walk. I was ten now, and Mum and Dad let me take him out around our village on my own, as there were not many cars or lorries in those days, so it was quite safe.

Rover was a black mongrel dog, friendly and full of energy but rather big for our little house, so he had a kennel in the yard and he was always very pleased to be taken out. We lived in a terraced house, which means the houses were all joined together and to get to the back yard you had to go down a rather dark and spooky passage. I always used to run through as fast as I could. You could go in the front door, but if you brought mud in on your shoes you would be in trouble from Mum, so we didn’t use the front door much. The road was called Victoria Terrace. We didn’t have a garden, just a back yard and the lavatory was outside, across the yard. The other thing I remember about those days was that all the houses were black as you looked down the street, because of the soot from chimneys and the steam trains on the nearby railway. We all had coal fires in those days in our downstairs rooms, but upstairs, the bedrooms were freezing in winter and the frost made beautiful patterns on the windows.

My name is Susan, but family and friends often call me Susie. My family were just ordinary people I suppose, but very special to me. Dad was a builder and had a lot of work to do, as it was still not very long after the war (as we called the Second World War) and there were many families in need of houses after so many had been destroyed by bombs. Mum worked part-time as a hairdresser, so, of course, she always cut our hair. I was the eldest in the family and I had two younger brothers; Barry, who was eight, and Bobby, who was six. They were often naughty and I used to look after them and try to keep them out of trouble.

Our village was called Long Rushton and it was quite large. There were several shops and pubs, a church and chapel, and a railway station. But what I liked best was that it had a river. I would take Rover for his walk up to the river bank, where he could come off the lead and run free. He loved that and I felt good too, away from our crowded home and noisy family, just me, alone in the wind and sunshine.

That day in 1956 is one I will always remember. I had a great time at Ann’s, playing in their garden on the swing her father had made, trying out her roller-skates in her road, and then we took her dolls into the corner of the garden and organised a party for them. Ann’s mum brought out sandwiches for our lunch with red fizzy pop to drink and we pretended it was wine for the dolls.

Eventually it was time to go home for tea. Mum had got some chips from the chip-shop, which usually was my favourite, but I couldn’t help feeling there was a funny atmosphere in the house. Then after tea, Mum made me sit down because she wanted to talk to me. I felt worried, because she looked so serious.

First she told me what seemed like good news.

‘We are going to move to another house,’ she said. ‘We have been given a council house in the village, in