Opening
As the war closes in, Ada Smith moves from fear to action, and Susan Smith steps fully into motherhood. Dunkirk’s wounded flood the village, the Battle of Britain begins, and Ada’s quick thinking uncovers a spy—just as her past returns in the most threatening form.
What Happens
Chapter 36: Dunkirk
Lady Thorton arrives breathless, summoning Susan for WVS duty: ships from Dunkirk are docking with soldiers who have been strafed on the way across the Channel. Hungry to help, Ada sends Jamie Smith to stay with Fred Grimes and declares herself a “junior WVS member.” With her crutches and a pillowcase of cloth scraps, she heads to the village.
The town hall—once Ada’s evacuation center—now functions as a hospital that reeks of blood and waste. Susan pushes Ada out to shield her, but Ada finds her own way to serve. She carries water from the pub to the less badly wounded men outside and teams up with Daisy, the publican’s daughter. They work nonstop, ferrying water and tea to an endless line of exhausted, bleeding soldiers.
One young man dies moments after asking for help writing a letter. Ada absorbs the reality: “It’s really a war now.” When Susan discovers her later, Ada’s steadiness convinces her to let Ada stay. By day’s end, Ada feels altered—tested and unbroken—an “After Dunkirk” version of herself, braver and more rooted in purpose.
Chapter 37: Things Worse Than Bombs
With invasion feared in Kent, the village begins evacuating its own children inland. Lady Thorton pressures Susan to send Ada and Jamie away. “War is no time for sentiment,” she argues. Susan refuses. “I’ll fight for her. I do fight for her. Someone has to.”
Susan then tells the children, clearly and calmly, “I am not sending you away.” The certainty cuts through Ada’s panic. Instead of abandonment, Ada feels chosen. Susan’s decision asserts their family as real and binding, even under threat of bombs.
Chapter 38: The Battle of Britain
Life tightens around air raid sirens and blackout curtains. One night, Susan confides that her strict upbringing made her worry she was neglecting the children—until she realized Ada needed freedom to grow. The siren wails, and they bolt for the Anderson shelter.
Inside, the damp dark crushes Ada. The small space echoes the cabinet where Mam used to lock her. She spirals into a panic attack. Susan wraps her tight in a blanket and holds on—just as at Christmas—until Ada returns to herself. To help, Susan strings fragrant herbs in the shelter, changing the smell that triggers Ada’s terror. They keep going through the nightly raids: huddling underground, Susan reading by candlelight while Ada manages fear with Susan’s presence and the changed air.
Chapter 39: The Spy on the Beach
War becomes part of the landscape. Riding Butter to her lookout, Ada sees a man in a rowboat land on a forbidden, mined strip of beach. He buries a suitcase, slips through the wire, and heads inland. Ada gallops to the police.
The first officer smirks, eyeing her clubfoot as if she’s making it up. Ada doesn’t back down: “My bad foot’s a long way from my brain.” A second officer agrees to check. They find the man, who seems perfectly English and claims he’s on a walking holiday. For a beat, Ada doubts herself—until she spots the clincher: wet, sand-filled trouser cuffs. The police arrest him and promise to investigate. Ada rides home wondering if she has truly caught a spy.
Chapter 40: A Hero
The man is confirmed a German spy; the buried suitcase holds a radio transmitter. The village celebrates Ada. RAF pilots, WVS women, and neighbors shower her with praise and gifts, calling her their “little spy-catcher.” Ada feels, for the first time, wholly accepted—“as if I’d been born in the village... as if I really was someone important.”
Susan explains the spy was likely “turned,” forced to send false reports to Germany. Even as Ada basks in the village’s affection, the danger feels sharper. She keeps riding hard and finally clears the stone wall—a jump she’s practiced all summer—exhilarated by the victory. She gallops home with a piece of a downed German plane to show Jamie. In the garden, her joy stops cold. Susan and Jamie stand beside the woman who embodies Ada’s old imprisonment: Mam.
Character Development
Ada’s courage crystallizes under pressure, Susan chooses love over convention, and the village reflects Ada back to herself as valuable and capable.
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Ada Smith:
- Steps into service at Dunkirk and refuses to quit, reshaping her identity around competence and usefulness.
- Uses keen observation to expose the spy and voices her worth—“My bad foot’s a long way from my brain.”
- Internal and external victories align: village acclaim and the daring jump over the wall.
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Susan Smith:
- Moves from reluctant guardian to fierce protector—“I’ll fight for her.”
- Understands Ada’s trauma and tailors care (blanket pressure, scented herbs, stories) to help her cope.
- Keeps the children despite risk, defining family through choice and constancy.
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Jamie Smith:
- Balances excitement for planes with grief for fallen pilots.
- Admires Ada’s bravery, asking for her “hero story,” which strengthens her self-concept.
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Lady Thorton:
- Advocates conventional safety-first evacuation.
- Acknowledges Susan’s reasoning—even without full agreement—showing pragmatism with a capacity for empathy.
Themes & Symbols
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- Dunkirk’s blood and the nightly raids don’t break Ada; they harden her resolve and offer chances to help, act, and belong. The war accelerates her transformation from hidden child to visible community member.
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- Ada rejects definitions tied to her body. Catching the spy and mastering the jump affirm that her mind, will, and perseverance define her.
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- Susan’s refusal to evacuate the children solidifies their bond. She chooses shared risk over emotional rupture, countering Mam’s neglect with protection and presence.
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- Ada’s bravery appears as action despite fear—carrying water at Dunkirk, enduring the shelter, confronting authority, and riding toward challenges rather than away.
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- The Anderson shelter triggers cabinet memories; Susan’s sensory and physical interventions show healing as management and care, not erasure.
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- Butter’s rides open the horizon as Mam closes it. The wall jump symbolizes release; Mam’s return threatens to lock the gate again.
Symbols:
- Anderson Shelter: A double image—site of panic and, slowly, a space remade by love and ritual.
- Jumping the Wall: A visible crossing from limitation to agency, earned through practice and nerve.
Key Quotes
“It’s really a war now.”
- Ada’s recognition at Dunkirk collapses distance between rumor and reality. The line marks the moment she binds her identity to service, not survival alone.
“War is no time for sentiment.”
- Lady Thorton’s dictum defines the prevailing pragmatism. The story counters it: sentiment—love and attachment—is exactly what fortifies Ada to function in wartime.
“I’ll fight for her. I do fight for her. Someone has to.”
- Susan articulates maternal commitment as action. The repetition (“fight”) reframes care as resistance against harm both physical and psychological.
“I am not sending you away.”
- Plain words do the work of rescue. This explicit promise repairs Ada’s expectation of abandonment and anchors her to home.
“My bad foot’s a long way from my brain.”
- Ada seizes language to separate body from worth. The retort becomes a thesis for her arc: intelligence and will outstrip limitation.
“Little spy-catcher.”
- The village’s nickname gives Ada public validation. Admiration from pilots and WVS women reframes her from burden to asset.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters bring Ada to a hard-won peak: community respect, personal mastery, and a secure family with Susan. Her actions at Dunkirk, her endurance in the raids, and her keen observation on the beach replace her old self-image with competence and value. The triumphant wall jump embodies that ascent.
The last image detonates the stakes. Mam’s arrival threatens to undo the identity Ada has built and the home Susan has promised. Having moved far from the helpless child of Chapter 1-5 Summary, Ada now faces the ultimate test: whether found family and self-belief can hold against the force that once defined her.