I always wanted to ask my 94-year-old grandmother what she did during the war…

On a warm spring day in 2012, two elderly sisters; Mabel and Di, sit side by side smiling, as they are about to toast the latter’s one-hundredth birthday. Nobody present could have guessed that over 70 years ago in the early spring of 1940 Mabel’s life hung in the balance, dependant on the actions of her older sister . . .

As an unwilling resident of Templars retirement home, 94-year-old Mabel Hill fills her time stirring up trouble for the unpopular manager Mrs Caunter. These antics are shared only with her favourite grandson, who wants to succeed where the rest of the family have failed, by finding out what she did during the Second World War.

The opportunity never seemed to arise though, until he drives her half way across England to attend her older sister’s birthday celebrations. His quest to unlock the secrets of Nan’s youth is about to begin…

Mabel will not yield her secrets that easily though, and her narrated memories first feature a shy schoolgirl growing up in the small Hertfordshire market town of Baldock in the late 1920s and early 30s. Subsequent outings or ‘travels’ follow, as visits to Mabel’s old haunts bring back the fascinating and gripping exploits that epitomised her war, before one final emotional journey to France reveals a startling secret and the shocking truth…