Temporary Accommodation - A Novella by Sarah Miller Walters

 Available as a printed book or Kindle download from Amazon, this story is set in an English village in the post war period. It's all about prefab houses and gardens, with a bit of theatrics thrown in. Here's an extract:


With her diary marked midweek and Mrs Bidder likely to want to make a visit soon, Marigold rose on Monday morning feeling that she really must get on with making a start in the garden. She took her cup of tea out there, breathing in a mixture of melting frost and wood smoke. They were burning the hedges again to make way for the prefabs. It was a smell of outdoors and her father’s bonfires. It wrapped around her and made her tea taste good. The garden had now been sketched out in a notebook, which Marigold fetched from her overalls pocket. A map of square beds and narrow paths, a potager ending in an immovable bank of brambles. The ground would have to be dug over as a starting point, perhaps twice or three times. She had obtained an old spade from Mr Tinker and was now just seeking the enthusiasm to begin the task. “Come on, you’ll feel better when you’ve started it” she muttered to herself and drained her rapidly cooling tea. The ground was lighter than she expected. She began at the bottom of the garden and intended to work her way gradually up to the top. This soil was not how her arms remembered it to be. Then she realised her error. Different soil in different places. When she had helped her father, when she had been a Land Girl – it was in a different geography. This might affect what she could grow. She would have to find out. She supposed that the library was as good a place as any to begin. Ten more minutes digging. Make a show of having made a good start. Then a wash. Then into the village. Library –and might as well do a bit of shopping as well. Get some more bread. Bit of veg. She turned. Progress looked good. Lots of stones to pick out though.



Click here to download the kindle edition for £1.29, or free to KindleUnlimited members


Click here for the printed edition at £6.39


It is the late 1940s and Old Vic Theatre trained actress Marigold Walbrook is languishing in a suburban repertory theatre. Having lost her home and parents in a V2 attack, her landlady is the nearest she has to a family. When Marigold's half-forgotten and reclusive Great Aunt dies, she inherits Donkey End Cottage in the Hampshire town of Bishop's Wallop. Deciding to abandon her acting career, she takes up residence in the cottage, planning to become a playwright. Marigold finds that the residents of Bishop's Wallop are preoccupied with a new development of prefab houses that are being built in a field near to Marigold's cottage. They are intended to house bombed-out families from Portsmouth. Locals are worried that this influx will spoil their little town and their quiet rural lives. Knowing what it is to be homeless, Marigold determines to do something to bring together the old and new residents. As it looks increasingly likely that gardening will take over her life, she decides to launch a gardening competition, with prizes to be awarded by an old acting friend at a summer garden party. The competition meets many obstacles along the way, including the might of the local Women's Institute. But with a small group of new friends and her old landlady, she digs deep to build a community. This novella will appeal to those interested in post war life in Britain. With reference to films, acting stars, prefabs and rationing (and a cameo appearance from Thorley Walters) it evokes a different and difficult time in our history with humour and warmth.

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