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Carol MacLean

Elsie Weir is trying hard to keep her family together. Living in Kiltie Street tenement in Glasgow with her mother and little sister, Jessie, isn't easy - not least because her mother spends most days in a drunken stupor. But life gets harder still when their mother dies suddenly, leaving Jessie and Elsie broken-hearted. The future looks bleak, until their mother's estranged family deigns to take them in. But their relief is short-lived as it becomes clear the Mearns family have taken in the orphan sisters only for appearances, treating them cruelly behind closed doors. When Elsie discovers the devastating secret her mother kept from them, it seems that they may have a lifeline - until that dream too, is cruelly dashed. Now, more than ever, the sisters only have each other. But can Elsie and Jessie find some hope in a life full of heartbreak?

Lesley Mackie

Story Sound

Kiltie Street Girls

Elsie's Wartime Wish

Glasgow, 1943. After becoming pregnant out of wedlock, only to find out her betrothed was already married, Kathy feared for her future. Her mother agreed to pass off baby Dennis as her own, treating Kathy as his older sister instead. Then a chance meeting with Alisdair, a handsome RAF airman, changes everything. They grow close quickly, but when Kathy believes Alisdair has discovered her secret, she runs away from heartbreak by joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The work is challenging, and Kathy finds her new home in Yorkshire very different to the Glasgow tenement she grew up in, but she finds great friendships with women who know nothing of her past. And there is no shortage of lovely soldiers to dance with in the evenings. But despite being surrounded by new faces, she can't get Alisdair - or her secret child - out of her mind . . .

Kathy's Courage