Goodbye Liverpool

Farewell to the Docks

Goodbye Liverpool transports readers to the autumn of 1941, when the mighty Mersey’s roar is drowned out by the distant thunder of Luftwaffe bombs. Young evacuee Grace Thompson arrives in the city for what should have been a brief stay, carrying little more than a battered suitcase and a mother’s whispered promise of reunion. But as Grace navigates crumbling tenements, soot-blackened streets, and the determined camaraderie of dockworkers, she discovers that Liverpool is more than a place of departure—it is a community forged by hardship, solidarity, and unbreakable hope.

Shadows of War, Sparks of Resistance

In the heart of this bustling port, Grace befriends Tom O’Malley, a former merchant seaman turned vigilante messenger, who ferries secret letters between bombed-out neighbourhoods under cover of darkness. Together, they uncover a coded message that could alter the fate of thousands waiting on the Liverpool docks. Facing ration-line bullies, air-raid shelters full of strangers, and the ever-present fear of the next raid, Grace and Tom must learn to trust each other—and their own courage—as the city teeters on the brink of collapse.

Echoes of Home and Heart

Anne Baker’s evocative prose brings to life the clatter of tramcars, the scent of coal smoke mingling with sea salt, and the laughter of children repurposed as street-corner lookouts. Goodbye Liverpool is not only a story of war’s ravages, but a celebration of ordinary people who found extraordinary strength in solidarity. From the stoicism of mothers watching their sons march off to the front, to the defiant singing of spirituals in candlelit shelters, this novel reminds us that even in the darkest hours, the human spirit endures.

.Anne Baker is an acclaimed British author whose historical sagas illuminate the resilience of communities and the quiet heroism of ordinary lives set against the tumult of world events.