The day the world changed forever, 10th August 1945.
…After that Sebastian studiously avoided discussing Ruth’s personal life, but the subject of Yann came up by chance one evening. They were seated in their usual place in the orangery. Ruth had been reading aloud from that morning’s Times about the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Sebastian waited until he heard the rustle of the pages returning to her lap.
“Who could have believed that just one bomb could be so destructive? What a dangerous thing to have created,” he said. “It will only need one power-crazy politician, and it could be the end. World War Three could be over in days, no winners, just utter destruction. I don’t envy young people.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, they will be growing up in such an uncertain and dangerous world. Attlee was right when he said on the radio last night that the A-bomb meant a naked choice between world co-operation and world destruction. Young couples must wonder what sort of world they will be bringing children into.”
“I disagree,” she said, “I am very clear what Yann needs. Love and security, with faith as a coat hook, available to hang his coat on, if and when he chooses to. And then there’s education. I still have to work out how he can get the best there is so that he’s got a passport to freedom, for when life gets tough.”
An extract from Chapter Fifteen of ‘Go Swift and Far’ – the first novel in The Chronicles of Bath