The waterway girls

the long version

War lands them in the same boat. Can they pull together? October 1943, West London Nineteen-year-old Polly Holmes is leaving poor bombed London behind to join the war effort on Britain's canals. Stepping aboard the Marigold amid pouring rain, there's plenty for Polly to get to grips with. Not least her fellow crew: strong and impetuous Verity, whose bark is worse than her bite, and seasoned skipper Bet. With her sweetheart away fighting in the RAF and her beloved brother killed in action, there's plenty of heartache to be healed on the waterway. And as Polly rolls up her sleeves and gets stuck into life on board the narrowboat - making the gruelling journey London up to Birmingham - she will soon discover that a world of new beginnings awaits amid the anguish of the war.