The Girl on THE MOON

Audrey was on a mission – but would she find answers or just more questions?

- Rosamund Eyre

THE STORY SO FAR: A woman carrying a cardboard box turns up at a children’s home during World War Two. She asks Vera Sutton, who runs the home, if she has a six-year-old called Danny in her care. When she finds out Danny is there, the woman reveals the boy is her sister Gloria’s adopted child, and that Gloria died in a raid. Danny was rescued from the rubble. She hands over the box, saying Gloria wanted Danny to have it should anything happen to her. The box contains baby things and a postcard showing an actress sitting on a moon. Is she Danny’s birth mother? Against her better judgement, Vera allows her assistant Audrey to visit the London address on the postcard to find out. But the Blitz is on and Audrey is young. Vera worries she has made a terrible mistake…

Glancing at the address on the postcard, Audrey checked she was on the right street. Then she put the postcard back in her bag and counted down the house numbers until she stood outside number 65.

It was a warm May day and she already felt grimy and tired from her journey. The train had been busy, full of soldiers and sailors coming up from the coast. Then, once she’d arrived at Victoria, she’d had to catch a bus across the city to the East End. But it had taken much longer than expected as it wove its way through the bomb-damaged streets. It meant she’d have less time with her mum and dad in the afternoon.

Now, looking at the shabby green door with the number 65 on it, Audrey took a deep breath and knocked.