In Jessica Stirling's Prized Possessions, Lizzie Conway has clawed her way out of the slums despite the crippling debt left behind by a long-vanished husband. To give her three daughters a better life, Lizzie sacrifices her own chance of happiness to break the endless round of poverty that engulfs them. But as the girls grow up, Lizzie is unable to protect them from the biggest threat of all--falling in love with men like their father.
Since the dawn of time, the Isle of Mull, off the Scottish coast, has had to fend off ferocious winds and a ravenous ocean intent on swallowing the island whole. Roughened by ceaseless storms and chill, Mull remained a quiet community, set in its ways, with almost no fodder for town gossip, as the nineteenth century drew to a close. Until, that is, new blood moved in, setting the local Campbell sisters, Innis and Biddy, against each other in all-out war for the love of the same newcomer, Michael Tarrant. But just as the passage of time changes slightly the cragged hills of Mull, so does it soften hearts to reconciliation: the two sisters realize their bond is too thick for a man to sever. For Innis, marriage to Michael Tarrant turned out far from idyllic: he fled to seek life outside Mull, leaving Innis to raise their children. Biddy, too, has married, but still yearns for the happiness that has always slipped through her fingers. Although it has taken sixteen years for life to return to a semblance of what it was before the Tarrants arrived, something is still amiss. Then a pregnant woman's arrival on the island turns any countryside serenity on its head. Loathed by some, loved by others, and feared as an ill omen by still others, this Fay Ludlow embodies the changes due to fall upon Mull. The winds of change at her back will bring with them ghosts of a past buried too soon in Jessica Stirling's The Strawberry Season.
Jessica Stirling continues the epic of love, greed and betrayal that began in The Island Wife in her magnificent novel, The Wind from the Hills. For Innis and Biddy, daughters of the embittered Vassie Campbell, life has changed greatly from the days when they were poor crofters. Innis, the mother of three young children, has found that marriage to handsome Michael Tarrant is utterly different from the idyll she expected. And Biddy has become only too accustomed to being a wealthy widow who keeps herself aloof from both the life she once knew and her dead husband's family. But though the sisters' lives seem set, they are destined to change once more. For Innis, a temptation to a better life may have to come too late--and for Biddy, courted by an ardent new suitor, happiness may have come at last. Set against the background of an island off the coast of Scotland that is being forced half-willingly into a new era, the story of the two very different sisters and their very different longings is one of the most memorable that Jessica Stirling has created.
As Glasgow waits for enemy bombers to reach Clydeside and the German invasion to begin, Lizzie Conway's daughters throw themselves wholeheartedly into the war effort and eagerly accept their roles as working wives in Jessica Stirling's enthralling new novel set in the darkest days of the Second World War. With her husband in the army, mother-of-four Babs sends three of her darlings to the country and goes back to work long hours in an office. Her comfortable routine is disrupted, however, when a charming American news photographer insinuates himself into her life, an American who may not be all that he seems. Rosie's job as a skilled factory worker is marred by the taunts of her cruel and snobbish coworkers. Eager to start a family but fearful that she might pass her deafness to her children, she blames her ambitious policeman husband for her desperate unhappiness and risks not only her marriage but her future because of it. Wealthy and self assured, Polly continues to manage her husband's shady empire, trying to forget that her children have been stolen from her and now live with their father in New York. But Dominic explodes back into her life with a plot that involves the Italian resistance, the OSS, and spiriting a fortune out of Scotland. When the bombs begin to fall, Polly is forced to choose between loyalty and betrayal, and to face up to what truly matters.
The streets of eighteenth-century Edinburgh, where disease and squalor jostle with high culture and grand ambitions, are the setting for Jessica Stirling's powerful new novel. On the brink of a disastrous marriage Nicola Templeton finally rebels, and flees to Edinburgh to seek refuge with her sister. Charlotte's own runaway marriage has already turned their father into an implacable foe and it seems that Nicola too may be cut off from her share of the Craigiehall estate if she does not bow to his will. The bustling Georgian city, a hotbed of intrigue and corruption, draws Nicola swiftly into its web. She is courted by Grant's dashing young brother, Gillon, fresh home from fighting in the American wars. Innocent country girl or not, she is not dazzled by Gillon's wit or deceived by his promises, for Gillon is penniless, if no less ambitious than his brother. Meanwhile, though, incensed by his daughters' ingratitude, Lord Craigiehall has plans of his own for the future of the Ayrshire estates. Plans that involve him with the notorious society hostess, Lady Valerie Oliphant, and a pretty little actress from London whose wiles are more than equal to his own.
Jessica Stirling's Glasgow comes to scintillating life in The Piper's Tune, a story of love and fortune set in Edwardian Scotland. Lindsay Franklin's life is an adventure she has just begun to enjoy. At eighteen, Arthur Franklin's cosseted daughter has left her Glasgow school and finds her role as a marriageable young lady with a widowed father more than agreeable. And the source of her family's wealth, the Franklins' shipbuilding yard on Clydeside, is prospering as the long peace of Queen Victoria's reign gives way to the feverish arms race of the new century. But Lindsay's life takes an unexpected turn when she is given a share of the family business. Equally unexpected is the appearance of Forbes McCullough, her charming Irish cousin whose attentions she secretly welcomes. To everyone's surprise, Lindsay decides to master the family business as carefully as her male cousins. What is not surprising is that several eligible men have decided that it is time to master Lindsay. As the mysteries of shipbuilding open to her, and the puzzle of male behavior becomes both more fascinating and more dangerous, Lindsay is forced to make some fateful decisions.
The first novel in Jessica Stirling's enthralling saga series is set in 1930s England, where an East End girl with ideas of her own makes a surprising journey from the back streets of Shadwell to the salons of Mayfair. Susan Hooper is private secretary to bestselling author, Vivian Proudfoot. Well-spoken and well-read, she soon learns how to hold her own with London's literary sophisticates. But the attentions of Mercer Hughes, a handsome agent with a notorious reputation and a shady past, are more than a docker's daughter can cope with and she finds herself falling reluctantly in love. She is soon cut off from her father and at loggerheads with her idealistic brother Ronnie and his gadabout wife Breda. Even her old friend, newspaperman Danny Cahill, is shocked at the circles in which Susan finds herself where pimps and gangsters rub shoulders with wealthy fascist sympathisers in support of the war in Spain. As the threat of world war grows Susan is torn between loyalty to her family and a lover who will not let her go. But when the time comes to choose she finds a solution that surprises everyone. Susan's story continues in The Wayward Wife.
Servant girl Betsy McBride thinks she has as much right as any girl to set her cap at Tom Brodie, the most dashing young man in the district. When her master asks her to help out the Brodie family she jumps at the chance to get a bit closer to him. She doesn't realise that Tom Brodie thinks the only way to save his family's fortune - or at least their farm - is to dazzle his landlord's daughter. There is heartbreak is on the horizon unless Tom's much more down-to-earth brother Henry can catch Betsy's attention.
Susanne Thorne is an orphan of means, one reason why Bette Hollander carries the young English girl off to her home in far-away Scotland. Bette would be more than happy for Susanne to fall in love with her handsome, headstrong son Louis, for marriage to the little heiress would repay old debts and restore the Hollander family's fortunes. But love cannot be delivered to order and as Susanne grows up and proves to have a mind of her own, Bette's plans for a match made in heaven seem fated to end in disaster.
Set in wartime London, the second novel in The Hooper Family series continues the story that began with A Corner of the Heart: the saga of an East End clan that knows both the Shadwell docklands and the world of books and broadcasting. The war everyone dreaded has begun at last, but for Susan Cahill it is more an adventure than a tragedy. Helped by a white lie about her marriage to Danny she has a new job as a producer's assistant at the BBC and glamorous new friends, including one American war reporter who has made London his base and Susan his target. Danny is also working for the BBC, sharing a room in a freezing farmhouse in Evesham, working long hours monitoring German radio broadcasts - and worrying about Susan. Stuck in London when the blitz begins, Susan's sister-in-law, Breda Hooper, faces up to the worst with a small son at home and a husband in the fire service. Then her Italian father, hiding out from both the authorities and his former partners in crime, prepares to leave Breda a legacy as explosive as any German bomb.
The marriage of Sylvie and Gowry McCulloch was not made in heaven and has gone through difficult times. Settled now in Dublin, they have a daughter, Maeve, whom they both love dearly. Sylvie presides over the respectable Shamrock Hotel while Gowry is a driver for Flanagan's bus company. When Francis Hagarty explodes into their lives, however, everything changes. Fran is a journalist and gunrunner and hides a shipment of smuggled arms in the Shamrock. Gowry discovers it and, sensing danger, is furious. But Sylvie has already fallen in love with Fran and is soon swept into an illicit affair. Trapped in a tangle of subversion that he has resisted all his life, Gowry is forced to flee Dublin and becomes caught up in the war in Europe. As Gowry struggles to survive the horrors of trench warfare in France and Sylvie and precocious daughter Maeve are drawn into the Easter Uprising at home, the family's future hinges on heartbreaking choices, any one of which may lead to tragedy for all of them.
Polly Conway now lives in luxury as the wife of Dominic Manone but, bored by her overprotective husband, finds distraction in a dangerous affair. Dominic has troubles enough of his own as his gangster father draws him into a drastic venture involving Edgar Harker, a sinister go-between, Penny Weston, a beautiful and amoral blonde and an unimaginable fortune in forged banknotes. Down-to-earth Babs, meanwhile, has her hands full keeping her demanding brood in line and her daft fast-talking husband Jackie out of jail. Only young Rosie appears to have found peace in Shelby's Bookshop in spite of her deafness, until that is she encounters Kenneth MacGregor, a handsome young policeman, whose intentions may - or may not - be honourable. As the web of suspicion and deceit tightens around Dominic, Polly finds herself threatened from all sides until she is finally forced to choose between her sisters, her husband and her own unfulfilled ambitions and desires.
The Martindale sisters are about to embark on a reckless journey of deceit, rivalry and betrayal that reaches a thrilling and romantic climax as the Titanic sails for New York... At first, handsome, freewheeling Clive Cavendish does not appear to be an ideal catch for Julie. But when a whirlwind seduction leads to love and marriage and Clive's ambitious schemes begin to pay off Julie is more than happy to be the wife of an up-and-coming painter and the mother of his children. Anna's suitor, Howard Buskin, is rich, moody and reclusive. He prefers painting Dartmoor's brooding landscapes to courting the beautiful young woman his mother has chosen to be his bride and from the first their uneasy, loveless marriage totters on the brink of crisis. Only when American art collector Teddy Norris enters their lives with a proposal that Howard cannot ignore, and an easy-going charm that sweeps Anna into a tempestous affair, do the sisters begin to question their loyalty to their husbands and to each other. A loyalty that will be tested to the limit on the first, and last, Atlantic crossing of the White Star's new super-liner, the unsinkable Titanic - a voyage not all of them will survive.
Set in 1878, this is the story of Biddy and Innes, two young girls from a large crofting and fishing family on the Isle of Mull, whose world is thrown into confusion by the arrival of a handsome young shepherd. Tragedy follows when they both fall in love with the same man.
On a wild November night, Highlander Gaddy Patterson stumbles on a dead girl and her abandoned baby in a sheep hut. To save the bairn from the poorhouse, Gaddy struggles to provide for herself and her adopted daughter.
The first novel in the trilogy which continues with Creature Comforts and Hearts of Gold, set in Fife from 1814 into the Victorian era. One November night, highlander Gaddy Patterson strays into the staid lowland parish of Balnesmoor, and stumbles upon a dead girl and her baby. Gaddy struggles to scrape a living for herself and the child, and in her struggle against the hatred of the village, she uncovers their long-hidden secrets... Praise for the trilogy: 'Stirling skilfully offers her readers a story rich with believable characters and colourful settings.' Best Sellers 'Beautifully written - full of the harsh realities and traditional relationships shaping life in early 19th-century Scotland. Highly recommended.' Library Journal
A wonderful story of love, intrigue and snobbery set in Ayrshire in the 1930s. Christine Summers is a pretty young teacher in a country school and the apple of more than one man's eye. But Christine has no intention of sacrificing her independence to marry anyone, least of all Charley Noonan, the rough-tongued young farmer who has been pursuing her for years. When she meets lonely widower Alan Kelso, however, Christine finds herself falling in love. Alan has also caught the eye of pony breeder Beatty McCall. Passionate, experienced and unscrupulous, Beatty is willing to offer him more, it seems, than Christine can ever hope to match. But sometimes all it takes to fall in love is dancing to the Paradise Waltz... Rich in tangled affections and intriguing characters, in THE PARADISE WALTZ Jessica Stirling captures all the pain and humour of life in a small, gossip-ridden village in the time between two world wars when wireless and the cinema were changing everyone's ideas about romance.
Alison Burnside's family have been luckier than most. The poverty of Glasgow in the 1930s has been kept at bay. So far . . .Alison seems content to graduate into marriage with teacher Jim Abbott, until she becomes entangled with fellow student Declan Slater who has an irresistible charm.'Stirling is a wonderful storyteller.' Bookseller 'Jessica Stirling's high reputation is well deserved.' Manchester Evening News
World War One ended well for the Franklins, prosperous Clydeside shipbuilders. But trouble is brewing behind their respectable facade... Rebellious teenager Maeve McCulloch has arrived from Ireland to stay with the Franklins, much to the dismay of her aunt Lindsay. Maeve's mother caused nothing but grief and heartache for Lindsay and it seems that Maeve may do the same. Meanwhile, Lindsay's husband has been swept off his feet by the wealthy and manipulative Stella Pickering. And Lindsay herself is torn between love and loyalty when handsome navy hero Geoffrey Paget unexpectedly walks back into her life. As the slump of the 1920s begins to bite on Clydeside, troubles both financial and personal invade all their lives. Once again Jessica Stirling has evoked a whole world at the moment when - for better or worse - it is about to change forever.
The third novel in the Stalker Trilogy, which began with The Spoiled Earth and The Hiring Fair, set in the Lanarkshire mining village of Blacklaw in the 1890s. Seventeen years have passed and the Lanarkshire mining village of Blacklaw has weathered both depression and the driving ambition of its coalmaster. But at last, falling wages have driven the miners to desperate rebellion... In Edinburgh, Drew Stalker has become Scotland's most eminent young advocate, with the highest honours within his grasp. Only scandal can bring him down - and scandal in the form of his bastard son is about to re-enter his life. His sister Mirrin faces a different threat to her hard-won respectability. As Tom Armstrong's eyesight fails and her farm's future become uncertain, Mirrin must draw on all her courage to survive. Praise for The Stalker Trilogy: 'Family ties, family strengths and weaknesses, ambition, greed loyalty and love . . . the story is compelling.' Daily Telegraph 'I would strongly recommend it to anyone with a taste for family sagas.' Scotsman
To Cassie Armitage and her well-to-do family, Robert Montague seems a perfect suitor: a distinguished preacher with a glamorous past and impressive connections. Only after marriage will trusting and idealistic Cassie discover that Montague is not all that he seems. Nancy Winfield, born to the workhouse and betrayed by her protectors, is quick to recognize the preacher’s evil intentions. Imprisoned in a dangerous marriage and deceived by her sister, Cassie finds an ally in Nancy, and a friend in widower Allan Hunter, who is a victim of Montague’s twisted schemes. Beneath the surface of Cassie’s staid existence perverse and deadly passion run deep, threatening a tragedy that only Nancy Winfield’s loyalty – and Cassie’s courage – can prevent
The first in a new series featuring Detective Jim Kinsella. Who murdered Molly? Was it Leopold Bloom, in the kitchen, with a teapot . . .? This finely crafted historical mystery, using several recognizable characters and the famous setting from James Joyce’s Ulysses, marks an intriguing departure for saga writer Jessica Stirling. Detective Inspector Jim Kinsella of the Dublin police force is called to the scene when the body of Molly Bloom has been found in her own kitchen where she has been beaten to death with a teapot. Although her husband, Leopold Bloom, is immediately taken into custody without a convincing alibi, Kinsella begins to have his doubts and suspicion falls upon Molly’s fellow singer and alleged lover, Hugh ‘Blazes’ Boylan. Kinsella, aided by his colleague, Inspector Tom Machin, probes the conflicting stories of Bloom and Boylan. Were the pair seen fighting outside a brothel the night of Molly’s murder? And what of the unusual scent, imported from America and found on a cotton ball beneath the Blooms’ bed, that Kinsella hopes will lead him to Leopold’s own dirty little secret? Kinsella is determined to ensure the wrong man doesn’t end up behind bars, and, in seeking the truth, stumbles upon more than he bargained for...
Though the Great Depression has brought misery to many, Holly Beckman has a thriving art business, a devoted husband and a son she adores. Until the holiday in Monte Carlo where for the first time she experiences romance. Almost reluctantly, Holly falls in love with the charming American dancer Peter Freeman.Then two works of art she sold turn out to be forgeries, just as her scapegrace brother Ritchie returns to London after years abroad. Maury, Holly's trusted older brother, suspects that Ritchie is plotting once more to bring the Beckman family down.'She writes in bright colours with bold, confident strokes.' Glasgow Herald
London in the Blitz - the story of The Wayward Wife continues in this compelling saga of love and war. Susan Cahill enjoys her job at the BBC - until a bomb destroys the building and brings unwelcome responsibilities and an autocratic new boss, Walter Boscombe. He has no time for ambitious young women from Shadwell and seems determined to break Susan's spirit - and her heart. Breda Hooper, Susan's widowed sister-in-law, and her small son are rescued from the East End's shattered docklands by Danny, Susan's estranged husband. Settled in a shabby caravan in the Vale of Evesham, Breda soon finds herself entangled in village affairs in more ways than one, with only her quick wits, her new friends and the ever dependable Danny to keep her out of trouble. For Susan and Breda, jeopardy comes not from the skies but in the terrible price each must pay for falling in love with men who are not all that they seem to be and who, even in the midst of all out war, will change their lives forever.
The third poignant novel in The Nicholson Quartet revisits a family divided by pride and weakened by poverty in turn-of-the-century Glasgow. Dedicated to holding their marriage together for the sake of their crippled son, both Kirsty and Craig Nicholson are forced to sacrifice the lovers they have previously found escape in. And for a time all seems well... until Kirsty seizes an opportunity to buy a small shop and makes a roaring success of her new career. Lonely and rejected, Craig continually seeks ways to gain the upper hand on his wife and her partners until only a brittle band of conscience stands between them and ruin.
The final novel in Stirling's historical Patterson trilogy concludes the engrossing family saga set in 19th century Scotland. Elspeth and Anna Patterson have at last to face the disgrace that has stalked them since childhood. Driven from home by fear and shame, Elspeth and her baby find refuge among coal miners, where she becomes a harness-wife on the deep sea-coast pits of the Forth. Anna, cast off by her lover, Randall Bontine, sets out to ensnare a wealthy new husband. But Anna's ambition may ruin her life, and bring to Elspeth the fulfilment of the destiny that is her birthright...
Glasgow is a city teeming with immigrants, rich and poor, schemers and victims alike. And the McKennas, fresh from Ireland, have no intention of being victims. When Nolan McKenna and his sisters arrived unannounced on Cissie Cassidy's doorstep claiming to be her late husband's long-lost relatives, the lonely widow is all too willing to be taken in and trusting enough to help them find them a foothold in the city. While Nolan wields a shovel for twelve back-breaking hours a day, the beautiful, trusting Clare takes up with the wrong man instead of the collection agent who yearns to make her his bride. Sharp-witted and pretty, Evie is made of more ambitious stuff and uses her job behind the bar of the Harp of Erin to attract the attentions of Russell Blackstock, builder and land-speculator, who owns half the tenements on Clydeside - and plans to own still more. The worlds of the wealthy Blackstocks and the penniless McKennas are set on a collision course that will mean huge changes for them, and for the city they live in.
A compelling, beautifully-observed story of growing up, of anguish and friendship, true and false, set in London, Scotland and the Peak District. The Haldanes were her mother's family. Not that Pauline had much to do with them after her mother Barbara deserted her husband and child. But the Haldanes had money, and money is power. So when, soon after the end of the First World War, her father goes broke, they are prepared to help - but at a price. Set in London, Scotland and the Peak District, The Haldanes is a compelling, beautifully-observed story of growing up, of anguish and friendship, true and false, during the Twenties when all the old values and rules are under attack. 'She writes in bright colours with bold, confident strokes' Glasgow Herald
The compelling second novel in the Stalker Trilogy, which began with The Spoiled Earth and continues with The Dark Pasture, set in the Lanarkshire mining village of Blacklaw in the bleak 1870s. In Edinburgh, Drew Stalker studies law, determined never to return to the grinding poverty of his childhood. Mirrin, the most restless and vital of them all, takes to the road and begins her journey, from tinker's camp to hiring fair, to a glittering future on the music-hall stage. And the Stalkers who remain in Blacklaw join a violent and bloody riot when the mine-owner Houston Lamont pushes them, at last, too far. The Stalker Trilogy: 'Family ties, family strengths and weaknesses, ambition, greed loyalty and love . . . the story is compelling.' Daily Telegraph 'I would strongly recommend it to anyone with a taste for family sagas.' Scotsman
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