Never Closer: A Novel About a Diary That Opens a Door On the Past - Paperback

by Margot Shepherd (Author)

On an ordinary day in 2017, Jo receives a phone call about her 18-year-old daughter, Jessie. It is the call that every parent dreads.

In 1940, 17-year-old Alice ties on her face mask and enters a laboratory to harvest a potential new miracle drug called penicillin.

The lives of these women become entwined when Jo finds Alice's diary in a vintage handbag. Past and present overlap and merge as life-changing events resonate for them all across the gulf of time.

This is a story about a diary opening a door on the past, chronicling a young woman's determination to succeed against all odds, while unknowingly inspiring others to step into a better life. Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, the infancy of antibiotics and a modern medical emergency and its consequences, it not only reminds us how fortunate we are to live now, but also serves as a stark warning about the fragility of life and the dangers of complacency.