Ok, much googling has failed to help. I'm trying to identify a book I loved as a teen, I took it out the school library several times.
I had a memory it was an early Jaqueline Wilson book (nothing like her normal stuff), but I can't find it in her bibliography.
It was aimed at teens (had a sex scene in it, so older teens). It was about two sisters during WW2, in their late teens/early 20s, who moved to a little cottage on the cliffs outside a seaside town to escape the bombings. I think they originally moved with their mum, but she left the scene fairly early on.
The main character was the younger sister, late teens, a bit wild and tomboyish, maybe called Rose. She had lots of dark unmanageable hair which at some point she cut off. The elder sister was much more conventional. I think she was married to a soldier - at some point she had a baby in the cottage and there was no-one to help but Rose.
Rose developed a friendship with a slightly older man in the village, maybe called Alex, who ran the bookstore, and turned out to have been discharged/on medical leave from the army with PTSD/shellshock.
At some point there's a dance held by the GIs, one of them falls for Rose. He teaches her how to jitterbug, but she is mortified when she realises it's been showing off her old patched knickers! The GI later sends her stockings and some fancy American tap pants for dancing in.
Rose and Alex eventually realise they are in love (I think when Rose is staying with him after getting ill from being caught in a storm) and they DTD in his bookshop in front of the fire. I think Alex ended up returning to the army.
I would say it was a 1990s/1980s book, probably 90s.
Any ideas? I'd love to re-read it!
TIA :-)