Part One: SIX YEARS OF DARKNESS Refugees from the Nazis, seventeen-year-old Joni Morgen and her mother arrive in blacked out London in November 1939, after an eight-months stint as domestic servants at a seaside resort. Standing on the wet pavement outside Victoria Station, Joni takes one look at the hustle and bustle of the busy street and is immediately sucked into the spirit of this great city. There is no other place where she wants to be at this time in history. She remains in London through air raids, destruction, shortages, financial stresses and twelve hour work days. Finally the war was over. With youthful optimism she writes: "Peace! Peace on Earth! No man, woman or child will ever be killed again, no bomb dropped, no torpedo fired. World peace. How long mankind longed for that. Now itOs real." Part Two: THIS NEW LIFE Seven years after the war, Britain is still trying to recover from its devastation. Disillusioned, tired of unending rationing, bomb-damaged buildings, shortages and personal restrictions, Joni and her friend Gerda, both alone in the world immigrate to Canada. An unexpectedly carefree and exciting new life opens up for thirty-year-old Joni, a striking contrast to the severity of the war years. The personal nature of these stories allows the reader to walk in the shoes of an "enemy alien" during the war, and an adventurous young woman seeking a purpose in life after the war.