It's 1955. Ellen is driving from Newcastle to Belfast to search for Liza, the mother she has never known, when she has an accident. Her life hangs in the balance as flashbacks of her loveless childhood and memories of her teenage years during WW2 unfold. Evacuated to a Northumbrian village, twelve-year-old Ellen is alone and vulnerable, but soon befriends Ash, a village girl who has been abused by her father. Then Daniel, a young Jewish boy who escaped Berlin after his parents were arrested and killed by the Nazis, comes to stay. When they find a young German pilot, whose plane has crashed in nearby woods, he becomes entangled in their emotional lives, for each of them representing an object through which to fulfil their own needs. All four are young, without parents or home or guidance during the war, and are swept up in a storm of love, power, revenge, betrayal and loss. angel wing is the prequel to The Broken Line. Together they tell the story of three generations of women in one family, as themes of love, loss, guilt and betrayal unfold. This is a beautifully written evacuee story with a difference, you won't be disappointed.

Linda Hartley studied dance and creative writing at Dartington College of Arts, UK, then went on to train as a somatic movement therapist and psychotherapist. She has worked in these fields for many years as a therapist and teacher, developing professional training programmes in Germany, the UK, Lithuania and Russia. She has offered workshops and retreats that explore the relationship between movement, image and words, and currently leads retreats in the Discipline of Authentic Movement in her Norfolk studio. Writing has always woven through her practice.

the broken line is her first novel, and angel wing is its prequel.

Linda lives in England, near the North Norfolk coast.