Iris grabbed her coat from a hook on the wall and hastily put it on over her nightie; she saw her new shoes under the chair, and snatched them up as her mother hurried her out of the house. They ran quickly across the road with Joey to shelter under the pier.

They were shocked by the devastation they saw along the sea front. Several buildings were burning, there were flames coming from the Castle headland, the Grand Hotel looked as if it had lost all its windows…

Thunder in the Morning, Lynne Reed