Nellie's War

When a bomb takes away all memory of her former life, can Nellie hope for happiness again?

In Nellie’s War, Victor Pemberton writes a moving account of the London Blitz, and the effect it has on one young woman’s future. Perfect for fans of Sheila Newberry and Cathy Sharp.

Stumbling, dazed and bleeding, from the bombed wreckage of Barratts’ Orphanage, Islington, sixteen-year-old Vicky Hobson can’t even remember her name. The runaway evacuees who give her shelter call her Nellie, the only girl in ‘Toff’ Hecht’s gang, until, yet again, tragedy strikes, and she is forced to move on. But when Nellie meets the great music hall illusionists, Monsieur and Madame Pierre – alias Bert and Doris Beckwith – her life begins again.

In the magical world of bright lights and greasepaint she finds a wonderful new family. But even as she is happily stitching costumes backstage, Nellie can’t stop thinking about her old life in the bombed-out rubble – and more particularly, about the restless young Jewish boy, ‘Toff’ Hecht…

What readers are saying about Nellie’s War:

‘A lovely read‘

‘An excellent read, [Victor Pemberton’s] stories are always very authentic‘

‘Five stars‘