A brilliant, nostalgic debut novel that conjures up wartime life in a towns department store. As the bombs drop, can Marlows Department Store offer Lily Collins a different life? 1941: with men being drafted to fight, Lily Collins secures a job as a junior on sales within the hallowed halls of town department store Marlows, whose large plate-glass windows filled with glossy, expensive goods have fascinated her since childhood. The day she starts work is the first time shes ever set foot through the doors. As bombs drop and shortages intensify, Lily progresses from a nervous junior to a spirited and confident young woman torn between the possibility of romance and her love for the store. With the war progressing to crisis point, Lilys friends and family must battle rationing, bombings and the absence of loved ones to keep soldiering on. A Store at War weaves a powerful sense of community together with the vivid evocation of a time when every man, woman and child was doing their bit.