Margaret Dickinson

Portrait of Jonathan is an early novel by Margaret Dickinson, author of Without Sin. Jonathan, Viscount Eldon, is absorbed in the business of building a steamship, but his quiet, reserved personality is in contrast to the wildness of his younger days. He has a great influence upon the lives of those around him and tries to curb the impetuosity of his young brother, Giles. Jonathan also shapes the future of Lavinia Kelvin, whose life is altered by him. Loving him in vain, she finds he is never far from her thoughts.

Portrait of Jonathan is an early novel by Margaret Dickinson, author of Without Sin. Jonathan, Viscount Eldon, is absorbed in the business of building a steamship, but his quiet, reserved personality is in contrast to the wildness of his younger days. He has a great influence upon the lives of those around him and tries to curb the impetuosity of his young brother, Giles. Jonathan also shapes the future of Lavinia Kelvin, whose life is altered by him. Loving him in vain, she finds he is never far from her thoughts.

A historical romance, Pride of the Courtneys is Margaret Dickinson's first published novel. When Louella Lloyd arrives at Courtney Hall, she is greeted by Lady Courtney with undisguised hostility; Sir Hugh with pained bewilderment and Georgiana with pleasure. But perhaps the most disturbing personality at the Hall is Bassett Courtney. Louella soon realizes that Lady Courtney's hatred springs from the closely-guarded secret surrounding her mother's connection with the Courtney family some years before Louella's birth. Only the friendship of Georgiana and Charles Corby sustain Louella when, suspected of theft, she becomes a prisoner of her fear of Bassett, Master of Courtney.

Set in the turbulent period of the English Civil War, Margaret Dickinson's Beloved Enemy is a light romantic tale, from the author of the Fleethaven trilogy. Raised in a strict Puritan household, Charmian Radley is betrothed to her cousin Joshua Mason. But through the years of Cromwell's rule her memories are of the handsome Royalist, Campbell Denholm, now in exile. When the Royalists return, the marriage between Charmian and Joshua is hastily arranged. Arriving at the Mason's castle, the wedding party is surrounded by King's Men led by Sir Geoffrey Denholm and his son, Campbell. Is Charmian to know him only as an enemy?

Set twenty years after the dramatic events that unfolded in Abbeyford, Abbeyford Inheritance is the second volume in the moving and powerful saga from Margaret Dickinson. Lynwood felt a strange constriction in his chest. No! No – it wasn't possible! Caroline had come back . . . But this is 1815; Caroline had eloped in disgrace twenty years earlier, and the girl now standing before him speaks with a low husky drawl and an accent from America. Adelina Cole. Her daughter. Returned to Abbeyford in search of a grandfather she has never seen, and the estate which she, as closest living relative, has every right to inherit. Except that Lord Royston cannot bring himself to see Adelina – her disturbing beauty reminds too many people of the past. Reluctantly taken in by distant cousins, Adelina believes she has found an ally in Emily Langley and her betrothed, the handsome, ruthless Wallis Trent. A man with old scores to settle, Trent knows Lord Royston altered his will to make Emily the main beneficiary. But Adelina's return changes everything – perhaps now his hand may be more profitably played elsewhere? And there is Francis, Earl of Lynwood – the man who first discovered Adelina. He once adored her mother and now cannot forget the face which threatens his peace of mind again . . . Continue the popular Abbeyford Trilogy with Abbeyford Remembered.

A historical romance, Pride of the Courtneys is Margaret Dickinson's first published novel. When Louella Lloyd arrives at Courtney Hall, she is greeted by Lady Courtney with undisguised hostility; Sir Hugh with pained bewilderment and Georgiana with pleasure. But perhaps the most disturbing personality at the Hall is Bassett Courtney. Louella soon realizes that Lady Courtney's hatred springs from the closely-guarded secret surrounding her mother's connection with the Courtney family some years before Louella's birth. Only the friendship of Georgiana and Charles Corby sustain Louella when, suspected of theft, she becomes a prisoner of her fear of Bassett, Master of Courtney.

Christmas Fireside Stories is a delightful festive collection of short stories that includes delicious Christmas recipes recommended by the authors as well as extracts from your favourite saga novels. Christmas at Briar Farm by Diane AllenChristmas preparations are in full swing at Briar farm as the Bainbridge family get ready for a traditional 1960s Christmas – with all the trimmings. Kate's Miracle by Rita BradshawIt's Christmas 1919 and things are looking bleak for Kate and her two small children in the north of England. That is until Kate discovers the strength of friendship and community at Christmas time . . . The Gift by Margaret DickinsonChristmas Eve, 1914. A moment of hope unites soldiers on both sides of the firing line as the spirit of Christmas crosses even the divides of war, and an act of generosity changes one man's life forever. Christmas at Thalstead Halt by Annie MurrayAt Thalstead Halt, the station master has the unexpected task of sheltering snow bound passengers in the run up to Christmas 1886. And the eclectic mix of travellers bring more than one surprise with them . . . You'll Never Know Just How Much I Love You by Pam WeaverChristmas, 1943. The post office at Goring-on-Sea is surrounded by a heavy blanket of winter snow but nothing can stop the last post, or the power of true love at Christmas time. A Wounded Christmas by Mary WoodCan friendship, humour and a Boxing Day party help to ease the sorrows of 1942? A heart-warming story featuring characters from the saga novel Proud of You.

The follow-up to Tangled Threads, Margaret Dickinson's Twisted Strands follows the dramatic highs and lows of the Hardcastle family as they endure the upheaval caused by war. It is 1914, and Eveleen Hardcastle, now in in her early thirties, has married Richard. As the First World War breaks out, Eveleen, a sophisticated young woman, is left to manage the factory while Richard goes off to fight for his country. Eveleen's mother Mary has found happiness at last in her marriage to Josh. Her young granddaughter, Bridie, still lives at home, and is beautiful, but has a spirited, strong will which her grandmother finds hard to control. Bridie is secretly besotted with her godfather, Andrew, whom she is convinced she will marry when she is older. While the war plays out, Bridie becomes a nurse, looking after wounded soldiers billeted in the local Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire stately homes and there finds a vocation that is both rewarding and gives her a maturity beyond her years . . .

Tangled Threads is a gripping romantic saga from Margaret Dickinson. For Eveleen Hardcastle life gets no better than growing up on Pear Tree Farm in the Lincolnshire countryside. Her family works hard for the Dunsmore estate and Eveleen finds it impossible to resist the charms of their employer's son, Stephen Dunsmore. But Jimmy, ever quick to antagonize, ensures that his sister's clandestine trysts do not remain so for long. Mary Hardcastle reacts to the news of her daughter's affair with a shocking ferocity, which seems to be born more of bitterness than maternal protectiveness. But what is it that fuels Mary's resentment towards her daughter? Unable to ignore her own feelings, Eveleen continues to meet Stephen in secret. But deception has a cruel price to pay when her beloved father is found dead from a heart attack. And worse yet, Stephen, far from providing Eveleen with the comfort she craves, deserts her in her hour of need and callously evicts the Hardcastles from the farm. Suddenly homeless, Eveleen is left to take the family reins and she fights to make a new life for her family in Nottinghamshire. And then she makes a stunning discovery about her mother's past which changes all their lives for ever . . . Continue the story of the Hardcastle family with the sequel Twisted Strands.

Wish Me Luck is an engrossing WW2 romantic saga by Margaret Dickinson, and sequel to Without Sin. Fleur Bosley didn't believe in love at first sight, at least not until she bumped into Robbie Rodwell on a railway station in the blackout of wartime Britain. Posted to a newly-built Lincolnshire airfield, Robbie as a wireless operator on bombers and Fleur as a R/T operator in the watch office, their only escape is to the little cottage in the nearby village where Fleur is billeted with another WAAF, Ruth. The two girls become good friends, but Ruth, already hurt by the loss of one of the pilots, does not approve of wartime romances. And Ruth is not the only one to disapprove. When Fleur's mother hears Robbie's name she becomes hysterical and bans him from her home. The young couple are determined to grab their happiness where they can, but is it a kind Fate or a cruel one that has brought them together when secrets from the past threaten their future? Away from their families, there is fun and laughter, the aircrews determined to make the most of every day, every minute, but whenever they fly off into the night on a bombing raid, Fleur must keep watch until the early hours praying that Robbie's plane comes back . . .

Margaret Dickinson's Pauper's Gold is the heartfelt story of triumph over adversity, in the cotton mills of Derbyshire. Hannah Francis has been forced to leave her beloved mother and the life she knows in the silk mill town of Macclesfield and is set to become an apprentice at a cotton mill in the Derbyshire dales. It is a cruel blow for such a young girl, but her three travelling companions are even younger than she is, and Hannah is determined to keep their spirits up and remain in good cheer. Once she is settled in the mill, Hannah discovers that the hours of work are long, and the daily routine is dangerous, arduous and harsh, but her bright singing and capacity for joy lighten the load for everyone. Hannah soon becomes a favourite with the other mill workers. Friendships are forged and an innocent love starts to blossom. But can such a fragile love survive cruel reality? It is not long before she attracts the eye of Edmund Critchlow, the man who owns them all, body and soul – the man from whom no pretty mill girl is safe. Times are hard in the cotton industry as civil war rages across America affecting even the mill owner and the lives of all his workers . . .

Without Sin is Margaret Dickinson's spirited historical saga of a passionate young woman who learns to fight for her own survival in a cruel world. Meg Kirkland fears her impudent tongue has caused her father's dismissal from his job and forced her whole family from their home on Middleditch Farm. Worse still, her father abandons them outside the workhouse, leaving Meg to care for her devastated mother, Sarah, and little brother as tragedy continues to haunt the family. Isaac Pendleton, Master of the workhouse, rules the lives of all those within its walls but when Sarah becomes his latest mistress, Meg is disgusted. Her loyal friend, Jake, born and bred in the workhouse, has a maturity and understanding beyond his years. Yet it is Meg's fiery independence that encourages Jake to leave the workhouse and seek employment on Middleditch Farm. His future is assured, but who will take care of Meg? The pretty, vivacious girl, once so innocent, becomes a calculating and manipulative young woman who will stop at nothing to get her own way even if it means betraying those she has loved. Without Sin is followed by Wish Me Luck, a heartfelt wartime romance.

A compelling saga from Margaret Dickinson, Fairfield Hall charts the changing fortunes of Annabel Constantine, in the devastating lead up to the First World War. Ruthlessly ambitious Ambrose Constantine is determined that his daughter, Annabel, shall marry into the nobility. A fish merchant and self-made man, he has only his wealth to buy his way into society. When Annabel's secret meetings with Gilbert, a young man employed at her father's offices, stop suddenly, she learns that he has mysteriously disappeared. Heartbroken, she finds solace with her grandparents on their Lincolnshire farm, but her father will not allow her to hide herself in the countryside and enlists the help of a business connection to launch his daughter into society. During the London Season, Annabel is courted by James Lyndon, the Earl of Fairfield, whose country estate is only a few miles from her grandfather's farm. Believing herself truly loved at last, Annabel accepts his offer of marriage. It is only when she arrives at Fairfield Hall that she realizes the true reason behind James's proposal and the part her scheming father has played. Throughout the years that follow, Annabel experiences both heartache and joy, and the birth of her son should finally secure the future of the Fairfield Estate. But there are others who lay claim to the inheritance igniting a feud that will only reach its resolution in the trenches of the First World War.

Margaret Dickinson's The Fisher Lass brilliantly evokes the dramas of those who are born to the fishing way of life. Flame-haired Jeannie Buchanan has spent all her life in the shadow of the dark North Sea. Working with freezing fingers to gut the precious herring, she follows the fleet south, travelling far away from her Scottish home. When her beloved father's trawler goes missing, Jeannie must face up to life on her own. But her fiery temper and fierce independence attract powerful and devious enemies. By standing up to the Hayes-Gorton family, she could be threatening the future of those she cares for most. By denying a man prepared to sacrifice all his privileges for a chance to offer his devotion, she could be facing years of unhappiness. Amidst the great social upheaval of the inter-war years, Jeannie must search again for the real love she has always denied herself . . .

The Clippie Girls is a compelling story of love, loss and heartbreak in the Second World War, by the author of the Fleethaven Trilogy, Margaret Dickinson. Rose and Myrtle Sylvester look up to their older sister, Peggy. She is the sensible, reliable one in the household of women headed by their grandmother, Grace Booth, and their mother, Mary Sylvester. When war is declared in 1939 they must face the hardships together and huge changes in their lives are inevitable. For Rose, there is the chance to fulfil her dream of becoming a clippie on Sheffield's trams like Peggy. But for Myrtle, the studious, clever one in the family, war may shatter her ambitions. When the tram on which Peggy is a conductress is caught in a bomb blast, she bravely helps to rescue her passengers. One of them is a young soldier, Terry Price, and he and Peggy begin courting. They meet every time he can get leave, but eventually Terry is posted abroad and she hears nothing from him. Worse still, Peggy must break the devastating news to her family that she is pregnant. The shock waves that ripple through the family will affect each and every one of them and life will never be the same again.

Flame-haired Jeannie Buchanan has spent all her life in the shadow of the dark North Sea. Working with freezing fingers to gut the precious herring, she follows the fleet south, travelling far away from her Scottish home. When her beloved father's trawler goes missing, Jeannie must face up to life on her own. But her fiery temper and fierce independence attract powerful and devious enemies. By standing up to the Hayes-Gorton family, she could be threatening the future of those she cares for most. By denying a man prepared to sacrifice all his privileges for a chance to offer his devotion, she could be facing years of unhappiness. Amidst the great social upheaval of the inter-war years, Jeannie must search again for the real love she has always denied herself . . . Margaret Dickinson's The Fisher Lass brilliantly evokes the dramas of those who are born to the fishing way of life.

The River Folk is a spellbinding story of Lincolnshire life in the inter-war years, by the author of The Fisher Lass, Margaret Dickinson. For twelve-year-old Mary Ann Clark life has always been tough. The pretty daughter of a wife-beating drunk, it is no surprise that she has grown up afraid of her own shadow. That is until 'Battling Bessie Ruddick' takes the young girl under her wing and into the heart of her bustling family. Growing into an attractive young woman, Mary Ann yearns to be loved and when her affection for Bessie's son, Dan, is finally returned she becomes a skipper's wife. But the arduous life aboard ship is clearly not for her and only the arrival of a daughter, Lizzie, seems to hold the marriage together. Yet, tragically, the family is torn apart when Mary Ann is seduced by the promise of a happier life. Although bewildered by her mother's disappearance, it is now up to Lizzie to help her father. For she, unlike Mary Ann, has inherited Dan's love of the river. But then, disturbingly, her life starts to follow the same pattern as her mother's . . .

Kitty Clegg has always accepted the hard work in her job as a kitchen maid at the Manor Farm. But now, at sixteen, she seizes the chance to go up in the world and to become a lady's maid. Handsome Jack Thorndyke has more than once held Kitty's adoring gaze. As he prepares his gleaming threshing engine for its winter work, he finally asks her to be his chosen Harvest Nell when the last of the golden Lincolnshire corn is cut. Carried away be her excitement, Kitty fails to heed the warnings whispered into her ear. Jack is far from the marrying kind. Worse still, his playful charm has attracted another - a young girl far above his station. Will Kitty's dreams be scattered like chaff upon the wind? Or can she hold on to a very special kind of love: a love which will bring both heartache and joy to the Manor in the turbulent decades to come? Set in the epic years before and after the First World War, Chaff Upon The Wind, Margaret Dickinson's novel of Lincolnshire life, is a spellbinding story of courage, loyalty and love.