Goodbye Piccadilly
In 1914, England faces a new kind of war. For Edward and Beatrice Hunter, their children, servants and neighbours, life will never be the same again.
For David, the eldest son, war means a chance to do something noble; but enlisting will break his mother’s heart. His lovely sister Diana, nineteen, longs for marriage, but has set her heart on Charles Wroughton, son of an earl, who will surely never be allowed to marry a banker’s daughter. Below stairs, Cook and Ada, the head housemaid, grow more terrified of German invasion with every newspaper atrocity story. Ethel, under housemaid, can’t help herself when it comes to men. Now soldiers add to temptation; yet there’s more to this flighty girl than meets the eye.
The once-tranquil village reels under an influx of khaki volunteers, wounded soldiers and Belgian refugees, the requisition of it horses and motor-cars, and the loss of its sons to Kitchener’s armies. The Hunters and their neighbours must find a way to adapt to a changing world of uncertainty and danger.
Goodbye, Piccadilly is the first book in the War at Home series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, author of the much-loved Morland Dynasty novels. Set against the real events of 1914 at home and on the Front, Goodbye, Piccadilly is extraordinary in scope and imagination and is a compelling introduction to the Hunter family.
Published in hardback June 2014 and in paperback December 2014