Past Remembering - Catrin Collier

Only those unable to join up are left to keep Pontypridd going in 1941 – until Ronnie Ronconi, autocratic head of the café-owning family, reappears, raising concerns that he will once again rule his family and their businesses with a fist of iron.

But Ronnie, worn and wiser after his escape from Italy and the loss of his beloved wife, accepts the rights and freedoms of his younger siblings more easily than anyone expects. He even finds time and heart to help others: Alma, whose husband Russian Charlie has been sent on the most dangerous of missions; and Diana, locked in a marriage which has brought her peace but no fulfilment.

The outcome is a passion so strong it threatens to destroy the whole community – but is Ronnie’s personal happiness more important than that of an entire family?