Alice and Joe

Set in the turmoil of the First World War, this is the story of Alice Bird.

Alice lives in Mandrake House, in Leeds, West Yorkshire, the home of Lord and Lady Mandrake. She is employed as a ladies' Maid to their twin daughters, Constance and Charlotte. They have a son too, Harry, who has gone to fight in the war, as have Alice's twin brothers, Ira and Mattie.

Brought up mainly by her brothers, as her father, Ira Bird, Valet to Lord Mandrake, was in mourning for his wife, who died during Alice's birth. Alice feels shunned by him and tries to win his affection, but doesn't know how. Despite that, she has captured the heart of Joe Murgatroyd, Lord Mandrake's Chauffeur, who, much to her distress, receives his call-up papers and has to leave her to join the fighting.

Alice's only contact with her loved ones is letters, written quickly between her duties, the hasty replies put to paper amidst the carnage, and greedily devoured by Alice after sometimes months of waiting, her nerves on edge, dreading a sharp rap on the door or the ding of a bicycle bell as the post boy clutches a telegram, the bringer of doom.

Fearful days follow for Alice and the other inhabitants of Mandrake House, some heartbreaking, and yet some with a glimmer of hope that there will be a happy future for them all when this infernal war is over.