Showing results by author "Rosie Goodwin" in All Categories

Warwickshire, 1840s: boys are destined for the pit and girls for the mill. Despite this, Maryann is happy there - until her mother dies. Her family collapses, leaving Maryann exhausted, and Toby, the boy she is set on marrying, insists they wait. Then Maryann is offered a position as nanny to the daughter of the mill owner, Wesley Marshall, who Maryann grows unexpectedly close to. But their relationship doesn’t go unnoticed, threatening to unleash a world of problems on them all....

A family pulled apart. A love silenced.... For as long as Briony Valentine can remember she has been soft on Eddie, the boy next door. But their chance of romance is stifled when the Luftwaffe begin dropping bombs on the midlands. Eddie is called up to serve, as is Briony's father, tearing her world apart. As the telegrams arrive, all she can do is pray.

Dilly is devastated: with her husband unable to work and four children already at home, they cannot afford to feed their new-born baby. Heartbroken, she delivers her baby girl to the Farthing family, who have just lost their own daughter to measles. This act of desperation will change the lives of both families irrevocably. But when the chance for true love finally comes, will Dilly choose family over her own happiness?

1850. When Opal Sharp finds herself and her younger siblings suddenly orphaned and destitute, she thinks things can get no worse. But soon three of them - including Opal - are struck down with the illness that took their father from them, and her brother Charlie is forced to make an impossible decision. Unable to afford a doctor, he knows the younger children will not survive. So, unbeknownst to Opal, Charlie takes their younger siblings to the workhouse, where he knows they will at least be fed and have a roof over their heads. Opal is heartbroken and struggles to forgive him.

1874. Growing up in extreme poverty in London, Pearl thinks life can get no worse. But when her parents decide to send her and her younger sister, Eliza, to the workhouse, they are forced into a new life of hardship and struggle. Pearl's hopes are raised when the workhouse offers the sisters a new life in Canada, and they board an orphan ship transporting unwanted children across the seas. But will Canada really be the happy new start the sisters hope for?

Dotty, Lucy and Annabelle all turn up for work at Coventry's department store Owen Owen at the same time as war is declared. Dotty is an orphan, Lucy is the sole carer for her little sister, and although Annabelle has led a life of privilege until now, everyone's having to pinch the pennies at the moment. The three form an unlikely bond, and with disaster at every turn, they're going to need each other...

Nuneaton, 1935. Kathy has grown up at Treetops home for children, where Sunday and Tom Branning have always cared for her as one of their own. She enjoys her life at Treetops Manor, surrounded by her beloved horses, and with a future as a nurse ahead of her, she could wish for nothing more. Her foster sister Livvy is not as driven as Kathy. Sunday is keen to see both her girls married, but Livvy has no intentions of settling down and would much rather spend time with her friends. When Kathy falls for the wrong man, her ambitions are soon forgotten as she embarks on a secret affair.

On the outskirts of Nuneaton stands Hatters Hall, home to the mentally insane. One rainy, dismal day in 1857, Maria Mundy arrives there to work. She is ordered to care for Isabelle Montgomery, daughter of an influential land-owner, but it becomes apparent that she has been falsely imprisoned. It’s going to take courage, determination, and resolve - but freedom is always worth fighting for.

Warwickshire, 1875 Emerald Pritchard has lived a privileged life with her parents and her younger sister, Abigail, in the stately Astley House on the outskirts of Nuneaton. But all that suddenly changes when her father disappears leaving the family in debt. They are forced to throw themselves on the mercy of Emerald's uncle who begrudgingly allows them to live in a small cottage within the grounds of his farm.

1912, London. Eighteen-year-old Flora Butler is going up in the world. She has the prized position of lady's maid to young Constance Ogilvie and is able to provide for her beloved parents and four younger siblings. She has even fallen in love, and though she does not feel quite ready to marry, her future seems clear. But Flora's life is turned upside down when her mistress' father dies. Connie is forced to move to New York to live with her aunt until she comes of age and begs Flora to go with her. Flora has never left the country before and now faces a difficult decision.

Nuneaton, 1911. When Holly Farthing's overbearing grandfather tries to force her to marry a dowdy widower twice her age she finally says no. When he refuses to support her any longer, Holly flees to London, bringing her best friend and maid, Ivy, with her. In the big smoke, Holly searches for the father she's never met and begins nurse training in the local hospital, where she meets the dashing Doctor Parkin. Kind and compassionate, he is everything that Holly has ever dreamt of. When Doctor Parkin proposes, Holly finally feels like she'll have the family she so longs for.

It's 1884, and 14-year-old Sunday Small has been in the Nuneaton workhouse since she was abandoned at birth. The regime is cruel, and if it were not for her dear little friend Daisy, Sunday's life would barely be worth living. And now she's attracted the unwelcome attention of the seedy workhouse master, who will stop at nothing to get her alone. It's time for Sunday to strike out alone in the world, but the brutal world of the workhouse will not let her go without a fight....

Warwickshire, 1910. Pious young Grace Kettle escapes the world of her unsavoury and bullying father to train to be a nun. But when she meets the dashing and devout Father Luke her world is turned upside down. Her faith is tested, and she is driven to make a scandalous and life-changing choice - one she may well spend the rest of her days seeking forgiveness for.

One thing unites the wealthy Farthing family and hardworking Dilly Carey - Olivia, the daughter Dilly gave to the Farthings years before. Dilly is still living with the consequences when unmarried Olivia arrives on her doorstep, with a baby girl in tow, begging for help. Olivia has a secret she only feels safe telling Dilly. Sworn to secrecy, Dilly agrees to help. She will find a way for Olivia to keep her daughter without revealing the true circumstances of her birth.

Widow Dilly Carey has struggled out of poverty to make a life for herself. Dilly should be content, but she is troubled by the one secret she must never share: the true parentage of her daughter, Olivia, whom Dilly gave away at birth. It's time for Dilly to make her peace with the choice that she was forced to make, but will she also find a way to a new happiness - and a new love?

Ginny's drunken father, devastated by the death of her mother and three siblings, ends up imprisoned for murder. Charlie, Ginny's eight-year-old sickly brother, is taken to the workhouse. Ginny is forced to flee her job and the unwanted advances of a baker. Close to breaking point, her beauty leads her to become Lady's Maid to the difficult Miss Diana at Lamp Hill Hall. However, all Ginny wants is to find her brother.

Lily Moon, the local miner's daughter, spends her days as a parlour maid for Lord and Lady Bellingham at Oakley Manor, on the outskirts of Nuneaton. She's always been happy with her lot in life, and never expected more. But one day, everything changes when she temporarily becomes lady's maid to the Bellingham's daughter, Arabella, who is pregnant with the illegitimate child of her lover, and about to be unhappily married off to a man double her age.

1885. Ruby Carter works hard in her parents' bakery. Whilst life isn't easy, she's happy enough - her gentle mother protects young Ruby from her cruel father and loves her unconditionally. So, when her mother falls ill, Ruby is heartbroken, and when from her deathbed her mother reveals that Ruby was adopted, the young girl is distraught. Stricken by grief and alone with the violent man she called her father, Ruby feels she has no choice but to flee.

Growing up in extreme poverty in London, Pearl thinks life can get no worse. But when her parents discover there's yet another baby on the way, they have to tighten the belt even further. Pearl's mother decides to send her and her younger sister, Eliza, to the workhouse, where they are forced into a new life of hardship and struggle.

At Treetops Foundling Home in Victorian Nuneaton, one special little girl brings sunshine and joy wherever she goes. A favourite of her foster mother, Kitty grows into a beguiling young woman but soon attracts the attention of more than one suitor with questionable intentions. She quickly discovers that her beauty is no protection against the peril she finds herself in, as this innocent young girl makes her way in the music halls and theatres of the big city....