Winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, this hidden classic will wow a new generation of readers For anyone who loves Cider With Rosie, or wartime memoirs such as World's End Follow-up to the much-loved The Great Western Beach, published in 2008 to widepread critical acclaim

'It must have been an astonishing imposition for the canal people when war brought them dainty young girls to help them mind their business, clean young eager creatures with voices so pitched as to be almost impossible to understand." So begins this joyous and rare memoir of a time when a group of girls 'in the deep sea of adolescence' work the barges in England during World War Two. One envies Emma Smith's precise and sly humour in her portrait of life on the canals, the details on the opening of a lock, and most of all the catching of that era and that adventure that now will live forever' Michael Ondaatje 'It's wonderfully written, humorous and humane, and beautifully evocative of the time' Independent Summer Reads 'Hope and energy radiate from every sentence of this lovely volume as it emerges into the light after its long sojourn in the cemetery of forgotten books' Daily Mail 'Smith's writing exudes wisdom and humour, and her descriptions of the main activities involved [...] and of the accidents and frustrations, as well as the moments of teenage revelation, exhilaration and joy - are vividly drawn' Times Literary Supplement

Emma Smith was born Elspeth Hallsmith in 1923 in Newquay, Cornwall, where until the age of twelve, she lived with her mother and father, an elder brother and sister, and a younger brother. Her book, Maidens' Trip, was first published in 1948 and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize. Her second, The Far Cry, was published the following year and was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In 1951 Emma Smith married Richard Stewart-Jones. After her husband's death in 1957 she went to live with her two young children in Wales, where she proceeded to write and have published four successful children's books, a number of short stories and, in 1978, her novel The Opportunity of a Lifetime. Since 1980 she has lived in the London district of Putney. In 2008 she published The Great Western Beach, her memoir of her Cornish childhood. Once again, it gained widespread critical acclaim.