The Girl in the Pink Raincoat
As with many romantic novels set in wartime, the special circumstances of England in 1939 are not only a background but central to the outcome of this love story. At the local raincoat factory, Gracie and her friends have earned their living and enjoyed the company of their Manchester workmates. Now this cheerful milieu is changing as developments in the outside world worry the community: plans are made to evacuate children, and anti-aircraft guns appear in Heaton Park.
Still the work goes on at the factory, and Gracie falls not for one of her fellow workers, but for the nephew of the factory owner, Jacob Rosenberg. We can predict well before she understands it that this will pose real difficulties: he is Jewish, classified as German and war is imminent. Her naivety does not equip her for what is to follow. ‘All I care about is that we like each other’ she declares, but the developing suspicion of others and hostility to all things foreign pose major challenges. Nor does her innocence allow her to understand that his Jewish family may not favour their friendship either.
This story is the education of a sheltered, well-intentioned and spirited girl in the ways of a tough wartime world. On the way she accepts the comfort of seeming friends who do not have her best interests at heart. Her mother, with whom she lives, has her own romantic meeting, which creates further tensions between mother and daughter. Surprising revelations ensue.
Finally, Gracie finds an environment much more suited to her liking and talents: the theatre. In the end aspects of her early experiences come to play a part on the stage, and with bombs falling on Manchester, a very theatrical ending is inevitable.
