Everyone remembered the summer of '39 as golden and strange. Golden because it was the driest on record; strange because people were burrowing holes and roofing them with iron. Waiting for the bombs...
In the Hampshire town of Markham, Georgia Kennedy wakes on her husband's last day in Civvy Street and feels elated. Conventionally married to the pompous Hugh, she discovers liberation during the war. Like other women, she embraces the camaraderie previously held back by gender and class. For Georgia, for rich, spoiled Eve, for salt-of-the-earth Dolly, life will never be the same again.
The stunning first instalment in The Breckton Novels, To Catch a Dream by Mary Wood tells the tragic tale of Bridie O'Hara, as she struggles to overcome her misfortune.
Can she follow her dreams when she has lost everything?
Young Bridie O'Hara is torn away from her native Ireland by her father - a freedom fighter, turned traitor - when he has to flee the wrath of the republicans. Violated by those who should protect her and betrayed by her dashing gypsy lover Seamus Finney, she struggles to find her way in Victorian England.
Will Hadler is a kind, hard-working miner, whose love for Bridie knows no bounds. He rescues her from a life on the streets and offers her the chance of happiness, but the demons inside her never give her peace. When Will takes Bridie to Breckton in Yorkshire, she meets and befriends the young Issy. A strong young woman, she triumphs over adversity, but her quest to save Bridie, and Bridie's daughter Bridget from the consequences of her mother's actions, proves a step too far.
An Unbreakable Bond is the gripping second novel in The Breckton Novels, from bestselling saga author Mary Wood.
It is 1913 and for best friends Megan and Hattie, born at the turn of the century and brought up in a convent orphanage in Leeds, the time has come to make their way in the world. Megan is to become an apprentice seamstress and Hattie is to work as a scullery maid at Lord Marley's country residence.
Once separated, Megan begins to excel at dress-making, but Hattie is less fortunate. After a devastating encounter with Lord Marley, she is forced to earn a living working the streets, where she uncovers horrors greater than any she could have imagined.
As the two grow up, both Megan and Hattie's paths are beset with danger at every turn, with the heinous Lord Marley never far away. Can their unbreakable bond carry them through their suffering and allow them to make way for true love that may be just around the corner?
Through highs and the lows, good times and the bad, life on the fair is unforgettable.
Julie and Dicky Otterman arrive at Grundy's fair with an extraordinary new act: the motorcycle extravaganza, The Wall of Death. This seemingly happy couple are the talk of the town, but all is not as it seems, and Dicky's dark and violent nature means Julie lives in constant fear. There's always plenty happening at Grundy's fair: Gemma knows Velda's secret. Renata is finally with Donny. New member, the well-spoken Tom, catches the eye of Jenny, the Grundy's lost daughter, returned to the fair very recently...Meanwhile, Sonny is away, angry and plotting. Amidst all the challenges the most worrying of all is betrayal from those closest to you. One thing is for sure: life on the fair is never simple.
A heart-warming and captivating family saga, perfect for fans of Kitty Neale, Lyn Andrews and Rosie Goodwin.
