From the back cover: "Court No 5, near the Liverpool docks, is one of the worst slums in Europe but, for the dozen families who live there, the warmth of friends and neighbours is a constant, as they share in the hardships and small triumphs of their relentless fight for survival. For women like Martha Connolly, each day is a struggle, and Martha must use all her ingenuity to feed and clothe her nine children in the face of the constant threat of hunger and disease. In 1938, rumours of war reach the court and soon it's clear that the coming hostilities will change things for ever. Hard though it is, this is the only life Martha has ever known - - can she prevent it being swept away?"

Starting to read this book today.

Finished reading this book yesterday. It was quite grim and difficult to read of the day to day struggles that families living in complete poverty had to deal with in Liverpool, England during the years leading up to and during World War II. Occasionally a chapter would move forward to 1965 and the main character, Martha who would share her family's story from her perspective as she reminisced on the past years. If there was any hope at all portrayed in this story it was the building of survival skills in some of the children, the sense of community and family between families who lived in the court and then a sense of hope and possibilities in the final few pages of the book.