The Wind Off the Sea

It is 1947, the worst winter in England since records began, and even the sea is frozen. For the women living in the little fishing port of Bexham, the chronic lack of everything from fuel to food has left them reeling. When Waldo Astley drives through thick Sussex snow into the village in his large American Buick, it is to find Bexham filled not just with grumbling residents, but with frustrated wives and mothers, forced back behind their stoves after the joy of the victory for which they fought so hard on the home front. Government directives have ensured that the returning men resumed the jobs their women managed so brilliantly through the gruelling years of war. But Waldo is no ordinary character, and while he has come to Bexham on a personal mission, his effect on all the residents is as warming as the electricity of which there is still such a shortage. For Judy, whose marriage to Walter has been badly affected by long years of separation; for Rusty, whose miscarriage has been mind-shattering; for Mathilda, whose single motherhood has put her eligibility in jeopardy, and for Meggie, still not recovered from her alter ego as a secret agent. No matter what the age or circumstances of the person, Waldo Astley is not just a breath of fresh air -- but the wind off the sea. Review. 1947 and the coldest winter since records began; for the women living in the little Sussex fishing port of Bexham the chronic lack of everything from food to fuel has left them reeling. Enter Waldo Astley who has come to Bexham on a personal mission.the captivating sequel to the bestselling The Chestnut Tree. About the Author. Charlotte Bingham comes from a literary family -- her father sold a story to H.G. Wells when he was only seventeen -- and Charlotte wrote her autobiography, Coronet Among the Weeds, at the age of nineteen. Since then, she has written comedy and drama series, films and plays for both England and America with her husband, the actor and playwright Terence Brady. Among her most recent novels are the highly acclaimed bestsellers To Hear a Nightingale, The Business, Change of Heart (winner of the 1994 Romantic Novel of the Year Award), Debutantes and The Chestnut Tree.