Summer 1939. Harry, a translator at the British Embassy in Warsaw, is falling in love with Polish waitress Kasia. When German tanks roll into Poland, and Britain declares war on Germany, Harry and Kasia face terrible choices. With her life in grave danger, can Harry help her, and if he can, how will he ever explain himself to Lois Bennett, the girl he left behind in Manchester?

Kind, quiet Tannie Maria isn't a woman who draws much notice. She leads a solitary life, writing recipes for the local gazette, cooking with ingredients from her garden, and chatting with her pet chicken, Morag. When Maria becomes the newspaper's advice columnist, she peppers her responses with delectable recipes to help people fix their problems. But after a woman who wrote to her turns up dead, Maria and her colleague, rookie journalist Jessie,...