The boat girls - Margaret Mayhew

It is 1943, and three very different girls are longing to do their bit for the war effort.

Frances- her life of seeming privilege has been a lonely one. Brave and strong, stifled by her traditional upbringing, she falls for a most unsuitable man

Prudence -timid and conventional, her horizons have never strayed beyond her job as a bank clerk in Croydon until the war brings her new experiences

Rosalind- a beautiful, flame-haired actress who catches the eye of Frances's stuffy elder brother, the heir to an ancestral mansion.

The three become friends when they join the band of women working the canal boats, delivering goods and doing a man's job while the men are away fighting. A tough, unglamorous task - but one which brings them all unexpected rewards.

Margaret Mayhew was born in London and her earliest childhood memories were of the London Blitz.She began writing in her mid-thirties and had her first novel published in 1976.She is married to American aviation author, Philip Kaplan, and lives on the borders of Wales.Her previous novels,Bluebirds, The Crew, The Little Ship, Our Yanks, The Pathfinder, Those in PerilandI'll Be Seeing Youare also published by Corgi.