The Ballad of Josephine
by Anne Lynn McKay

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Britain has been at war for five years, and in 1944 Josephine Devine, a newly qualified Catholic teacher, returns to her home town in northern England to begin her career. When her friend, Jim McCleary, declares his love, she’s shocked at his desire to marry her. Her ambitious family put pressure on Josephine to encourage the young surgeon. Then, at a Christmas dance she encounters a charismatic soldier, home on leave. Tom Rowan, handsome, confident, with a seductive charm, tilts Josephine’s world on its axis. Caught between these two men and relentless coercion from her mother and sisters, Josephine tries to navigate her way forward. This story captures the enduring class divide in postwar Britain, as well as the struggles of a Catholic woman to make choices about her own body. Josephine’s decision, for better or worse, will have life-long repercussions.

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Anne Lynn McKay lives in Victoria, BC. She found time during the Covid lockdown to start and complete this novel. Anne Lynn is an English Literature graduate and has enjoyed reading all her life. Her teaching career allowed her to indulge in her love of books, hopefully creating lifetime readers among her students. Anne Lynn’s children and grand-children grew up hearing her stories and, with her husband Michael, have encouraged her to write and to continue writing.

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Anne Lynn McKay

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