Along a blacked-out wartime street a girl is scurrying a basket on one arm. As the sirens begin & the bombs crash down she is filled with panic & with a heavy heart abandons her burden in a sheltered doorway meaning to return later. Even as she disappears in the resulting chaos the bundle in the basket begins to wail. Years later two young unfortunates meet on a miserable November day. Martin has been desperately trying to hitch a lift along the lonely windswept road & when he sees a weeping girl in front of him he hurries to catch her up. Rose & Martin become unlikely companions until they go their separate ways not expecting to meet again. However fate decrees otherwise. ...

Destitute. Quinta Haig is struggling to make ends meet at Top Field with her ailing mother Laura. Their small Yorkshire farm is run-down & isolated & when the only way to take their goods to market is lost Quinta is prepared to sacrifice almost anything for both of them to survive. Desired. Noah Bilton a wealthy neighbour has designs on Top Field as well as ideas for the future of Laura & her daughter. He offers an uneasy solution to keep them out of the workhouse but Laura Haig will have nothing to do with it or him. When strangers appear at Top Field looking for shelter Quintas hopes are renewed
- but Noah is resolved to take what he wants by fair means or foul. Deserted. Quinta finds love against all odds but is deserted at her most vulnerable. The hardships that follow give her a steely determination to seek retribution from the man who has wronged her
- but can revenge ever bring back her happiness?

...

When seventeen-year-old Belinda Phillips falls in love with a handsome Anglo-Indian officer she knows that he is a man she can never hope to marry. When he is reported missing believed killed in action Belinda discovers that she is pregnant. Facing disgrace & ruin she has no option other than to accept an arranged marriage with a middle-aged widower knowing she must keep the secret of her childs birth for ever. Reluctantly she sends her beloved daughter to a foster mother in Cripplegate little realising she has entrusted Cassys care to Biddy Henchard a woman who runs a notorious baby farm in an area full of poverty & disease. Despite her terrible upbringing Cassy survives the old womans cruel neglect. All the while she dreams of a mother she has never known hoping she will come & save her from her dreadful fate. But when Biddy dies suddenly ten-year-old Cassy finds herself destitute & with little hope of ever finding the mother she so longs for... ...

From rural rags to brief riches & back to ruin this is a moving saga of hard work bad luck & finally hope for a familys future. Gloria Sullivan cant quite believe where she has ended up. Growing up with no money worries she fell head over heels in love with the handsome hardworking Irishman employed by her father. They were the golden couple
- until the Wall Street crash when everything was lost. Finally she agreed to start again in London with husband Joe & their small son. World War Two was raging & Joe laboured on the docks by day & fighting fires by night. He was a hero
- but one dreadful fire left him terribly injured. Once more Gloria resolved to leave everything behind & to take Joe home to his family farm in Ireland his only hope of recovery. Gloria now dutifully nurses her husband but she cant settle in the countryside. Then a nearby American base begins recruiting civilians. Gloria tells everyone its her chance to do her bit
- but will she be tempted to do much more?


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When Eloise Cribb receives the news that her husband's ship has been lost at sea she wonders how she is ever going to manage. With two young children the rent overdue & almost nothing to live on she has no alternative but to turn to his estranged family for help. She sets off on the long & arduous journey to Yorkshire but is met with hostility & soon realises she has little choice but to return to London. Virtually destitute & desperate Eloise is faced with her worst nightmare: she must either go to the workhouse or abandon her children at the Foundling Hospital. But she is determined to keep them safe & under her protective wing at all costs... ...

Gosport 1941. Fourteen-year-old Vera has led a sheltered life with her overbearing religious mother & older sister. But her world is turned upside down with the arrival of the Lovell family on her street. Vera quickly befriends the daughter Angela an impulsive worldly young woman who opens Vera's eyes to what she has been missing. But Vera unaware of the effect she has on men invites the unwanted attention of Angela's father with devastating consequences. Outraged at the news that her teenage daughter is pregnant Vera's mother sends her to a home for wayward girls. After giving birth to a baby boy Vera manages to escape the brutality of the institution only to end up homeless. Alone & struggling to make ends meet Vera is determined to give her son a better life
- at any cost. But just as their fortunes seem to change for the better everything Vera has worked for is threatened... June Hampson brings heartbreak warmth & humour to this compelling tale of family tragedy & a young mother's fight for her son.
...

Gosport 1941. Fourteen-year-old Vera has led a sheltered life with her overbearing religious mother & older sister. But her world is turned upside down with the arrival of the Lovell family on her street. Vera quickly befriends the daughter Angela an impulsive worldly young woman who opens Vera's eyes to what she has been missing. But Vera unaware of the effect she has on men invites the unwanted attention of Angela's father with devastating consequences. Outraged at the news that her teenage daughter is pregnant Vera's mother sends her to a home for wayward girls. After giving birth to a baby boy Vera manages to escape the brutality of the institution only to end up homeless. Alone & struggling to make ends meet Vera is determined to give her son a better life
- at any cost. But just as their fortunes seem to change for the better everything Vera has worked for is threatened...
...

When the truth lies buried in the past... Finding herself pregnant Julia Winter is forced to leave home rather than bring shame on her family. Reduced to living in the slums of Liverpool she eventually finds work in a respectable hotel where Eunice Hawkins the manager's wife is also expecting. For a while Julia dares to hope for a better life for herself & her unborn child. But soon tragedy strikes
- Julia's baby is stillborn at the same time as Eunice gives birth to a healthy baby girl Amanda. Although heartbroken at the death of her own baby Julia helps to look after Amanda. However Paul & Eunice Hawkins hide a secret too terrible to reveal & it is only after their untimely deaths & teenage Amanda's sudden disappearance that Julia finds out the truth. & just when she might have a chance of happiness at last she is faced with the hardest decision of all...
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THE FOURTH PATRICK MELROSE NOVEL The once illustrious once wealthy Melroses are in peril. Caught up in the wreckage of broken promises child-rearing adultery & assisted suicide Patrick finds his wife Mary consumed by motherhood his mother in thrall to a New Age foundation & his young son Robert understanding far more than he should. But even as the family struggles against the pull of its ever-present past a new generation brings a new tenderness & the possibility of change. ...

When Hetty Huggins made a promise to her dying mother that she would look after her younger sister & brothers little did she know how difficult this would be. But despite the threat of being turned out onto the streets by the unscrupulous tallyman & the never-ending struggle just to exist Hetty is determined her family will never starve or want for a roof over their heads. Longing for something better out of life than the daily grind of making matchboxes for a pittance she dreams of setting up her own business. With the help of friends she sells hot potatoes on the streets & things begin to look up for them all. But when the tallyman comes calling they are faced once more with a future full of hardship & despair.. . ...