Diane Allen's The Yorkshire Farm Girl is a heartfelt novel of a family dreaming of a better life when war looms on the horizon.

Life is hard for the Fothergill family as they try to make a living on their Dale farm. Bob Fothergill has set his sights on buying his own farm instead of renting the one they currently hold. Sally his teenage daughter wishes her father would see that she could help more with the farm, but he believes that a girls place is in the home. Ben, their youngest, has no interest in farming so is ignored. Sally's mother makes do knowing her husband wants what's best for them.

But when Bob decides to take a well-paid part time job, collecting milk for the local dairy, it causes friction in the family, bringing tension to New Year's Day, 1939. Ivy and Sally's lives change. Sally gets her wish to be more hands on with the farm, coping with a bad winter and lambing sheep on her own. But then a stranger walks into Ivy's life that shows her the affection that she craves and her heart is lost to him.

With Germany is shaking its fist angrily at other nations and the threat of another war is undermining everything. Times might be hard now, but worse things are yet to come or could perhaps the coming years bring better times. But will the Fothergill's be able to weather the uncertain times?