Our Yanks by Margaret Mayhew (Corgi, £5.99)

THEY were glamorous, exciting, ready to win the war and they arrived in the quiet country village of King's Thorpe in August, 1943.

The villagers had never seen anything like the Fighter Group of the American Eighth Army Air Force. They didn't know what to expect of them and, with preconditioned opinions, most of the residents had decided they certainly weren't going to like them anyway.

Sam Barnet, the village baker, and Brigadier Mapperton hated them on sight. We must keep them out of the village at all costs, said the Brigadier They're late for this war just like the last.

But young Sally Barnet, 15 going on 18, had completely different thoughts and went to all manner of deception to get out of her father's way and attend the Yank dances.

For Miss Cutteridge, Corp Joe Bilsky became a part of her life in a way she, as an elderly spinster, could never have imagined possible.

She knew though, that her one true love, William, killed at Ladysmith, would have approved. She shared this private grief, with Joe, as the two became gardening buddies and formed a wonderful friendship.

In so many ways the Yanks changed the lives of so many of the folk of King's Thorpe. Finally everyone accepted them as "our Yanks loving them, grieving over their deaths and missing them when they returned home.

A gripping tale of love, friendship, triumph and sadness. One to hold the attention and pull at the heartstrings.

Beverly Abbs