Geoffrey Hutchings

An uptight but secretly heartbroken primary school teacher's little white lie about Hollywood coming to see his class' nativity play grows like wildfire in his rag-tag school low on self-esteem.

After their mother dies, two boys flee their mean aunt and head for Venice, Italy, where they meet Scipio, the mysterious "Thief Lord." Along with a small gang of abandoned kids, the boys start robbing the rich to support themselves.

A shy and quiet World War II evacuee is housed by a disgruntled old man, and they soon develop a close bond.

In a staid English seaside town after the Second World War, young Lynda grows up with her widowed father and younger sister. She eventually becomes pregnant by an acquaintance of her father.