The Blue Note - Couverture souple

It is wartime and Miranda, little cockney orphan Ted and Roberta (Bobbie) have been evacuated to an old-fashioned household in the country. Despite the war, the children's time spent with two unmarried sisters at their rectory is idyllic and turns their underprivileged lives into something very near heaven.

But when the local Committee for Evacuation objects to the spinsters' attempt to adopt all three children, it is Bobbie who is reluctantly sent away to grow up in very different circumstances. And before long, all three children who have come to think of themselves as a family are parted - seemingly forever.

After the war, and purely by chance, the three are reunited. Miranda, now a beautiful model, wonders whether she is in love with Teddy, who has become an aspiring young photographer. But Teddy can only think of her as his sister, having fallen for Bobbie, who has given her heart to the mysterious Julian during a halcyon summer by the sea. There are many intriguing complications and hearts are destined to be broken before a dramatic conclusion can be reached.

Award-winning novelist Charlotte Bingham has enchanted readers with a series of bestsellers, including the highly acclaimed Love Song, The Kissing Garden and The Love Knot. Set around the Second World War, The Blue Note is a captivating novel that confirms Charlotte Bingham as one of our best-loved storytellers.

During the Second World War, Eastenders Miranda and Ted are sent to the country with another young evacuee, Roberta (Bobbie), to live with two unmarried sisters in their idyllic rectory. The time they spend with Aunt Sophie and Aunt Prudence turns their underprivileged lives into something very near to Heaven: gathering wool from hedgerows, initiating do and mend campaigns, and trotting about the countryside with Tom Kitten, Aunt Prudence's pony. But when the Committee for Evacuation object to the women's efforts to adopt all three of them, it is Bobbie who is sent away to live with the Dingwalls in very different circumstances. And when the aunts die, Miranda, Tom and Bobbie - who have come to regard themselves as a family unit - are eventually parted, seemingly forever.

The three find each other after the war, and Miranda, now a beautiful young model, falls in love with grown-up Ted Mowbray, but unfortunately he can only think of her as a sister. In turn, he loves Bobbie, who can only think of him as her brother, having already met her beloved Julian during a summer by the sea in Sussex.

Necessarily there are many intriguing complications, and all hearts are destined to be broken before a satisfactory emotional climax can be reached.