Esther, as the wife of Dr. Bartholomew Grieve is a contented young woman. The child she raises as her own - Beth - has no memory of her real mother who died by her own hand on the day of her daughter's birth. Beth has witnessed dreadful scenes of murder and kidnap, and the threat from her biological father, a farmer and smuggler, is ever present. It is Esther's hope that she and the child will not suffer the consequences of their past entanglements with the smugglers. But it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain this hope in the face of so many threats. An unknown lad accosts her in a lonely twitten, not quite a boy nor yet a man; he believes it to be Esther's fault his parents died, with all his siblings subsequently consigned to the poor house. He intends to make her and the child suffer as they have suffered.There is no hunger or want in the doctor's household and Esther has the goodwill of many in the town of Lewes; but an unwelcome visitor, in the shape of Dr. Grieve's elder sister, is about to bring discord into the happy home. Enid McGovern disapproves of her brother's wife and her acid tongue soon finds ways of disturbing the harmony and frightening the child Beth.In amongst Esther's fears for her own and Beth's safety she finds fulfilment as a practising midwife in caring for the many pregnant women who cannot afford to pay a physician. She finds great personal happiness in her increasing family and is more than capable of seeing off interference by some of the medical profession, particularly when one of them tries to push her out of her midwifery role - a scenario being played out all over the country as venal physicians try to take the wages that midwives can earn. Esther still dreams of establishing a small house where disadvantaged women can give birth if they have no suitable home. She often loses herself in her herbal preparations and studies the works of Nicholas Culpeper. Her own understanding of herbalism comes through generations of wise women of whom her mother was one.Esther, however, cannot escape the past and when an opportunity arrives to help destroy the smuggling industry in Sussex and Kent, she voluntarily takes part. She does not foresee the consequences and once again her life is held on a knife edge at the will of smugglers who do not realise they are harbouring their bitterest enemy. Esther is trapped as the Excise executes an audacious plan to retrieve England's stolen gold and rid the southern counties of its smugglers once and for all.
In this reprint edition the contents [of the original 34 volumes] have been rearranged, re-typed, and consolidated in three hardcover volumes, each with its own master index."--Title page verso.
Eddy is an ambitious teenager. He attends one of the most prestigious boy’s colleges on the island and has big dreams. The only problem is that he lives on the Beetham, and to be from the Beetham in Trinidad society means that you would always be considered the lowest of the low, no matter what you do. The stigma of crime, drugs, violence and poverty would always be associated with people from that area. Being the best friend of the son of one of the richest and most influential men in the business world certainly does not help. The two are like brothers until Brian almost loses his life and the hand of money hungry kidnappers. Brian’s mother Sally tries desperately to salvage a marriage that is already beyond repair. Her husband’s infidelity is not as frightening to her as the thought of her becoming a divorcee. Matt defines who she is in the world and without her identity as his wife, life could become unbearable. However she slowly discovers that infidelity has its own vicious consequences. Jesse Guevara is the eldest of five and the daughter of simple Santa Cruz Valley farmers. She is smart and beautiful and her teachers at St. Joseph’s Convent believe that she will be able to get a scholarship. Lisa is her best friend and although faced with the challenge of living with an alcoholic replacement for her father, never loses her joie de vivre. Jesse, Brian, Eddy and Lisa are all from different backgrounds and different socioeconomic status. However, when the lives of these four young people and their families collide through circumstance, their vulnerability is revealed and their secrets exposed. Each of them discovers that there is something they hold dear to their hearts. Something that once stolen can never be replaced.
A must for every family bookshelf. Highly regarded as one of the most popular poetry anthologies ever published, this collection includes poems by Blake, Emerson, Dickinson, Longfellow, Stevenson, et al.
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