The Todd family are strangers to city life when they move into a flat on the Scotland Road; their previous home was a canal barge. Harry gets a job as warehouse manager & his wife Martha works in a grocer's shop whilst Seraphina trains as a teacher Angela works in Bunney's Department Store & young Evie starts at regular school. Then circumstances change & Seraphina takes a job as a nippy in Lyon's Corner House. Customers vie for her favours including an old friend Toby. When war is declared the older girls join up leaving Evie & Martha to cope with rationing shortages & the terrible raids on Liverpool which devastate the city. Meanwhile Toby is a Japanese POW working on the infamous Burma railway & dreaming of Seraphina... Darkest Before Dawn is a warm passionate story that makes it easy to see why Katie Flynn is one of Britain's most popular saga writers.