WORLD War Two offers a new life for a repressed young woman keen to escape from the daily drudge of her family's Blackpool guesthouse.

And just what happens to Eunice Morton when she joins the Women's Land Army forms a heartwarming story by North-west writer Margaret Thornton. Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree is a nostalgic and detailed look at Blackpool in the 1940's, told with a genuine love for the town by a writer who has lived there all her life.

The characters are finely drawn and believable, and the storyline reassuringly ordinary, accurately reflecting the hardships and humour in the everyday lives of a nation at war. Simply compelling. Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree by Margaret Thornton (£18.99, Headline)