The Girl at the Farmhouse Gate Hardback

It is early spring in 1944 and the war in Europe continues, with the Allies poised to invade northern France.

For Alice Todd, it is the start of her second year as warden of the Land Army hostel in the wild Devonshire countryside - Lower Post Stone Farm - and a time of change as she recovers from the aftermath of her broken marriage.

Alice becomes increasingly self-reliant and confident, learning to balance her new working lifestyle with her continuing role as a mother to her only son.

Her leadership has won her the affection and confidence of the Land Girls in her charge and, as the seeds of friendship are sewn, she finds herself increasingly caught up in the lives of the women that surround her, lives that are complex, humorous and sometimes tragic.

Despite the momentous changes of the past few years, Alice sees little difference in the face reflected in the mirror, but inside she has found reserves of strength she didn't know she had.

Her spirit attracts the admiration of Roger Bayliss, her enigmatic employer, but is his attention going to help or hinder her new-found independence?