As Boowie starts to read his grandma's journal, he finds the diary begins in 1943, when Lily is just a few weeks shy of her 12th birthday, and is living on a farm in the village of Slapton, with her pet cat named Tips.

Boowie finds the diary is filled with the usual tales of a young girl that age; her reluctance to kiss a boy named Barry; petty squabbles with her mates; the rows she has with her mum; missing her father who if off fighting in the war.

Lily continues to write that her family has moved to her uncle's farm nearby; but her cat Tips, stubbornly decides to return to the area that is now been designated a forbidden zone.

Panicked and distraught over the loss of her cat, Lily places herself in danger by crawling under the wire fences erected by the army, going back into the forbidden zone herself in search of Tips.

Boowie is now reading the letter, which details how decades later, after Lily's husband has died, she sees Adolphus on the beach with his son, and their friendship is rekindled, and she ends up visiting him in Atlanta.

He noticed that on the walls of the establishment there was an array of old black-and-white photographs of American soldiers hauling furniture and people's belonging out of Slapton, a village in the South Hams district of Devon, a name that "vaguely rang a bell" to him.

Morpurgo also says that he read a local history book about the subject matter, which included an anecdote about a cat that "survived behind the perimeter wire during 10 months of bombardment from ships at sea".

[15] In her review for Booklist, Hazel Rochman wrote "the personal story of anger and love is as gripping as the war drama, and Morpurgo includes a fascinating note about the invasion rehearsal and why its history is seldom told".

[16] Sharon Levin of Language Arts wrote that "the book's beautifully written style truly conveys the effect of war, even on those not directly involved in combat".

[17] The Horn Book Guide noted that "Lily's cantankerous voice propels this diary-format tale of connection and loss; her maturation is affecting and believable".