Dan Hodges is devastated when his wife Nora dies during the early days of the war. Working long hours in a Portsmouth shipyard, how is he to look after his two sons, Gordon and Sammy? Then Gordon, something of a tearaway, is sent to an approved school, which leaves young Sammy alone in the house until neighbours in April Grove intervene and Sammy is evacuated to Bridge End, a village near Southampton.

Ruth Purslow, a young childless widow, takes him in, her compassion aroused by his plight. Slowly, as they grow closer, Ruth begins to dread the time when Sammy must return to Portsmouth. But Dan, enduring the struggle of a man living alone in a blitzed city, begins to realise that Sammy means far more to him than he ever thought. He's determined to bring Sammy home.

For Sammy, the return is far from easy and when it seems as though Dan has disappeared, he makes the decision to find his way back to Ruth, no matter how hard the journey or how afraid he is.

A vivid wartime saga of colour and authenticity capturing both the harshness and the warmth of life during the dark days of the Second World War, TUPPENCE TO SPEND is set in April Grove, the home of old friends and new. It is the eagerly awaited novel from Lilian Harry's inimitable pen.