May 1941 & the island of Crete is invaded by paratroopers from the air. After a lengthy fight thousands of British & Commonwealth soldiers are forced to take to the hills or become escaping Po Ws sheltered by the Cretan villagers. Sixty years later Lois West & her young son Alex invite feisty Great Aunt Pen to a special eighty-fifth birthday celebration on Crete knowing she has not been back there since the war. Penelope George
- formerly Giorgidiou
- is reluctant to go but is persuaded by the fact it is the 60th anniversary of the Battle. It is time for her to return & make the journey she never thought she'd dare to. On the outward voyage from Athens she relives her experiences in the city from her early years as a trainee nurse to those last dark days stranded on the island the last female foreigner. When word spreads of her visit & old Cretan friends & family come to greet her Lois & Alex are caught up in her epic pilgrimage & the journey which leads her to a reunion with the friend she thought she had lost forever
- & the truth behind a secret buried deep in the past...