It is 1940, the Blitz is raging over London and other key cities in Britain and tens of thousands of children are being evacuated to safe havens, both within the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Patricia is six-years-old when she is squirrelled away in an evacuation school located deep in the heart of Shropshire. She is left there with the promise from her parents that "the war will be over very soon and then you can come home." The "very soon" lengthens into five long years. "Dear Cedric . . . " chronicles the challenges, adventures and misadventures, the triumphs, tragedies and angst that face Patricia, her friends and fellow classmates during those years of separation from their families. When VE day finally comes, Patricia has to face another separation from her Normanhurst 'family' and the woman who has become her surrogate parent, mentor and friend.