In 1936 Susan was working as a nurse in a mental hospital in the north of England under the sharp eye and even sharper tongue of the Matron and under the superintendent whom Susan considered was crazier than the inmates. A meeting with her friend Kezia's brother changed her life when he told her of the terrible things that were happening in the Spanish civil war and she decided to use her nursing skills there where they were needed. In a dressing station that had been set up in a small church, men and women of all nationalities came and went, some no more than patched up before going back to fight.

She became very fond of ChiChu who had lost all her family and when, after the fighting, they were both in prison, Susan resolved to escape and take her back to England . They started a new life together, just in time for the start of World War II.

This is a gripping book, moving from the horrors of war in Spain to Britain and its bombing and other hardships, where loyal immigrants and friends are interned along with those working for the enemy. Susan and ChiChu go from one disaster to another, even after leaving London for a lonely farm in the northeast of England . The young Spanish girl is imprisoned in the mental hospital where Susan first worked, deemed insane because she does not speak English and cannot be understood.

There is love and laughter, great characters and twists and turns of plot that make this an enjoyable, never-to-be-forgotten story.