Amazon.com description: Product Description: It is 1942, and the Second World War has been going on for three wearying years. Work is hard and hours long in the four Ulster mills in Northern Ireland where Alex Hamilton struggles to keep overworked machines going, just as his wife Emily tries to provide food and comfort not only for their own son and daughters, but for the many young American soldiers stationed nearby. Bad news comes daily, with the sinking of merchant ships and Allied reverses in the Far East and North Africa, but there is still a welcome for friends and strangers - and moments of unexpected happiness at even the darkest of times.