When your life changes in a moment, how do you rewrite your story?

In 1940s Britain, with the Second World War raging, Alice is working in a laboratory developing a potential wonder drug, called penicillin. Made to leave school at sixteen and abandon her aspiration to be a teacher, she learns instead about medicines and miracles and how curing people may be her destiny.

In the present day, Jo, already in a failing marriage, is devastated when she hears her daughter’s life is on a knife edge. At her bedside Jo starts to read Alice’s diary, found the previous day in a vintage handbag.

A door opens onto the past, revealing a young woman’s fierce determination to succeed against all odds. Past and present overlap and merge as life-changing events resonate across the gulf of time.

This is a story of a mother whose life is blown apart. Now she must find a way to put it back together. Can Alice show her the way?

“I devoured this book. The characters are rich and their stories compelling.” — Goodreads reviewer

“This is a tale that will wring your heart and feed your soul. Don’t pass it up!” — I’m a Voracious Reader

“Timeless themes, beautifully packaged.” — Something by Jane