The Evacuee Summer: Heart-warming historical fiction, perfect for summer reading. Katie King

      KATIE KING lives in Kent, and has worked in publishing. She has a keen interest in twentieth-century history and this novel was inspired by a period spent living in south-east London. She is the author of The Evacuee Christmas, the first in the Evacuee series.

Copyright

      An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

      First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018

      Copyright © Katie King 2018

      Katie King asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Ebook Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780008257583

      Contents

       Cover

       About the Author

       Title Page

Copyright

       Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-one

       Chapter Twenty-two

       Chapter Twenty-three

       Chapter Twenty-four

       Chapter Twenty-five

       Chapter Twenty-six

       Chapter Twenty-seven

       Chapter Twenty-eight

       Chapter Twenty-nine

       Chapter Thirty

       Extract

       About the Publisher

Chapter One

      The day that Milburn came to Tall Trees rectory seemed to take forever to arrive.

      And no sooner had Milburn been installed in the freshly whitewashed stable and given a metal pail of cool water to drink from, than there was an enviable trumpet of flatulence from underneath an extravagantly lifted tail, followed by an impressively large mound of droppings deposited in the corner of the stall, combining to make the children crowded over the stable door giggle in glee.

      Milburn’s little chestnut ears flicked nervously forwards and backwards at the unfamiliar noise they were making.

      The Rev. Roger Braithwaite, Tommy’s father, announced in a proud voice, ‘Just what the vegetables need’, to which his wife Mabel replied in a tone much less proud, ‘Don’t be such a daft ’apporth, Roger – it’s got t’ rot down first.’

      Nobody said anything for a moment or two, and then Tommy asked Roger in a deceptively innocent voice, ‘Phew, phewee! Pa, do ponies fart a lot? And do they do much sh—?’

      ‘Tommy!’ his mother quickly cut in.

      Milburn turned to peer at Tommy with such a comical look of shock that