The Runaway by Katie Flynn

The new book from "Sunday Times "bestselling author Katie Flynn.
Dana and Caitlin are kitchen workers at the Willows Dining Rooms and living at the YWCA, but desperate to get a place of their own. They are both running away from their Irish families, but for differenct reasons. Working beside them in the kitchen is Polly, a waif from the Liverpool slums. She admires and envies the two Irish girls and watches their every move. When they find a decrepit butcher's shop they try to take on the flat above it, and eventually do so, turning the shop into a tearoom. Polly hovers, watching everything and hoping they might eventually give her work.
But they are cheated out of their tearoom and Caitlin, the weaker character, goes back to Ireland leaving Dana to struggle on alone. She manages to find a room she can afford and then meets Polly, who has just been sacked from her job. The two girls share Dana's room and gradually the reader learns their stories and in particular, Dana's reason for her flight from her home, Castletara. Polly hears her friend talking in her sleep and envies her the life thus revealed and the warm friendship which apparently exists still between Dana and Caitlin. When it is clear that war is coming she persuades Dana to go home, where a dreadful surprise awaits her.