From what started out as a blog to help me keep my sanity to books to help you keep yours, this is the true story of a mother and daughter caught up in the grips of a ruthless invader and how it redefined our lives as we knew it and how hope, however fleeting, was attainable.

It chronicles the life of my larger-than-life mother as a war, too close to her home, raged in Europe, how love blossomed in the most unlikely of circumstances and how, years later, after a devastating diagnosis, she was able to keep her amazing wit and undeniable charm.

This is a story, like millions of other stories out there, just waiting to be heard.

Just one.

And what an incredible story it is!

This is volume 2, the rest of our story.