A Mother"s Trust - February 2012

 Phoebe Giamatti lives with her boisterous Italian family in the heart of London's East End. Phoebe's father was killed in gang warfare and she and her family share a deep hatred for the Paxman brothers - whose lawless ways strike terror into the whole community.

Despite her English mother's feckless ways, Phoebe is fiercely protective of Annie. Then just as the family are about to go to Italy for the winter, Phoebe discovers Annie is in trouble - and the Paxmans are involved. Phoebe is determined not to betray her mother's trust and, giving up her own chance of happiness, she stays behind to care for her. But when Phoebe and Annie are forced to leave London and Annie falls dangerously ill, Phoebe has little choice but to turn to the man she holds responsible for all her family's troubles...

Cinderella Sister - September 2011

 Lily Larkin is the youngest of six and the least important member of her family. With their father dead and their mother a stranger to them, she must stay at home and keep house whilst her elder siblings go out to work. As she goes about her daily chores, her head is full of dreams, and she longs for the day she can have a life of her own.

When a fire threatens to destroy the nearby docks, Lily’s act of kindness towards a handsome foreigner has disastrous consequences for the whole family. For shortly afterwards they are thrown out of their home and have no choice but to move into two mean rooms above the fire station where Lily’s brothers work. Here the family struggles to make ends meet, but just when things might be looking up for them all, Lily makes a terrible error of judgement. In anger her eldest brother turns her from the door. Forced onto the streets, Lily wonders if she’ll ever see her family again...

Spitfire Girl - October 2011

 It is 1940 and Britain is at war with Germany. In London, eighteen-year-old Susan Banks longs to do her duty. Her secret ambition is to learn to fly – to serve her country and realise her dream. But she knows it is out of the question for a girl like her; a foundling, unwanted and unloved and dependent on strangers for her welfare.

Just as she fears she will be trapped forever in a life of servitude and loneliness, she meets Tony Richards, a flying instructor based in Hampshire. When she is forced to flee London, she heads out into the country. She is taken in by the kindly landlord of the local inn and his daughter. As Susan works hard to earn her keep, and her friendship with Tony – now recalled to duty – blossoms into love, she dares to hope that things are at last looking up for her. But then she receives devastating news – Tony is missing in action. Susan wonders if she’ll ever see the man she loves again and realise her dream of becoming a Spitfire girl...

We'll Meet Again - January 2011

 It is April 1939 and, unaware that the German war machine is advancing towards the Channel Islands, seventeen-year-old Meg Colivet and her sister are enjoying a holiday in Oxford with their aunt. Here Meg meets charismatic German undergraduate Rayner Weiss and the couple fall passionately in love. But all too soon, Britain is at war with Germany, Guernsey has been occupied and Meg’s family home requisitioned by the German Army.

Meg insists on remaining with her father, determined to help save her beloved island from the ravages of war. And then she finds herself face to face with Rayner – now a German officer – and her life is thrown into turmoil as they risk their lives to meet in secret. As the conflict in Europe intensifies, basic provisions become scarce and soon the people Meg loves come under threat. Torn between her love for Rayner and her duty to her family and the island she grew up on, a heartbroken Meg has a terrible choice to make...

Poppy's War - October 2010

 August 1939: Thirteen-year-old Poppy Brown is evacuated to a village in Dorset. Tired and frightened, she arrives with nothing but her gas mask and a change of clothes to her name. Billeted at a grand country house, Poppy is received with cold indifference above stairs and gets little better treatment from the servants. Lonely and missing the family she left behind in London, Poppy is devastated when she hears that they have been killed in the Blitz.

Circumstances soon force Poppy to move to the suburbs and into the company of strangers once more. Earning a meagre income as a hospital cleaner, as the war continues to rage, Poppy longs to do her duty. And as soon as she is able to, she starts her training as a nurse. While the man she loves is fighting in the skies above Europe, Poppy battles to survive the day-to-day hardships and dangers of wartime, wondering if she’ll ever see him again...

A Mother's Secret - November 2010

When seventeen-year-old Belinda Phillips falls in love with a handsome Anglo-Indian officer, she knows that he is a man she can never hope to marry. When he is reported missing, believed killed in action, Belinda discovers that she is pregnant. Facing disgrace and ruin, she has no option other than to accept an arranged marriage with a middle-aged widower, knowing she must keep the secret of her child's birth for ever.

Reluctantly she sends her beloved daughter to a foster mother in Cripplegate, little realising she has entrusted Cassy's care to Biddy Henchard, a woman who runs a notorious baby farm in an area full of poverty and disease. Despite her terrible upbringing, Cassy survives the old woman's cruel neglect. All the while she dreams of a mother she has never known, hoping she will come and save her from her dreadful fate. But when Biddy dies suddenly, ten-year-old Cassy finds herself destitute and with little hope of ever finding the mother she so longs for...

The Ragged Heiress - June 2010

On a bitter winter’s day, an unnamed girl lies dangerously ill in hospital. When two coarse, rough-speaking individuals come to claim her, she can remember nothing of the events that brought her to her present state, not even her name.

According to the men, she is their young sister, Lucy, but as her health improves and her memory gradually returns, she realises that she’s been kidnapped. Her captors are hoping to claim her fortune as a ransom – for she is really Lucetta Froy, the daughter of a prosperous importer. Tragically, her parents were drowned on the return voyage from Bali when their ship went down in the River Thames, but Lucetta survived as did the two villains.

Making her escape from the grim confines of the filthy cellar in which she was imprisoned, Lucetta’s hopes of proving her identity are dashed when her uncle refuses to recognise her and claims her father’s business for himself. Despite being virtually destitute, she is determined to reclaim what is rightfully hers.

A Mother's Wish - November 2009

Since the untimely death of her husband, young mother Effie Grey has been forced to live on a narrowboat owned by her tyrannical, crippled father-in-law Jacob. In spite of her own despair, she is determined to protect her brother Tom and her baby son Georgie from Jacob's bullying ways - for she is all they have in the world. Effie and Tom see little of the pittance they are able to earn by trading along the River Lea, and with no other family to support them they have no choice but to put up with their increasingly difficult situation.

When Jacob hires Salter and his wife to run the barge, Effie's life becomes even more unbearable, and Tom is sent packing without a penny to his name. Effie is allowed to stay and care for her son, but Jacob makes it plain that her position is less than that of a servant. Forced to live on deck with little to shelter her and Georgie from the elements, tormented by the villainous Salter and his vile wife, Sal, Effie is driven to desperation an she steals Jacob's hidden cache of money and escapes with her son. As she begins her frantic search for her beloved brother, Effie vows that whatever happens she will make a home for little Georgie and keep him safe from harm.

The Cockney Angel - June 2009

Eighteen-year-old Irene Angel lives with her parents in a tiny room above the shop where her crippled mother ekes out a living selling pickles and sauces, whilst her charming but feckless father Billy gambles away what little money they do manage to earn. And it is all Irene can do to keep the family together.

Billy's addiction soon leads him into trouble. Despite having been brought up to fear and distrust the law, Irene finds herself forced to collaborate with the police in order to save her father from ruin. But Billy's errant ways finally catch up with him and he is imprisoned in Newgate jail. With her mother away from home, a desperate Irene has little choice but to seek help once more from Inspector Edward Kent - her sworn enemy - for only she can clear her father's name and reunite her family.

A Mother's Promise - November 2008

When Hetty Huggins made a promise to her dying mother that she would look after her younger sister and brothers, little did she know how difficult this would be. But despite the threat of being turned out onto the streets by the unscrupulous tallyman and the never-ending struggle just to exist, Hetty is determined her family will never starve or want for a roof over their heads.

Longing for something better out of life than the daily grind of making matchboxes for a pittance, she dreams of setting up her own business. With the help of friends she sells hot potatoes on the streets and things begin to look up for them all. But when the tallyman comes calling, they are faced once more with a future full of hardship and despair...

Constant Heart - June 2008

Despite living by the side of the Thames, with its noise, disease and dirt, eighteen-year-old Rosina May has wanted for little in life.

Until her father's feud with a fellow bargeman threatens to destroy everything. To save them all, Rosina agrees to marry Harry, the son of a wealthy merchant. But a chance encounter with a handsome river pirate has turned her head and she longs to meet him again.

When her father dies a broken man, Harry goes back on his promise and turns Rosina out onto the streets. She is forced to work the river herself, ferrying rubbish out of London and living rough. In spite of her hardships, she cannot forget her pirate and when tragedy threatens to strike once more she is forced to make a choice. But is she really prepared to risk everything for love?

A Mother's Courage - November 2007

When Eloise Cribb receives the news that her husband's ship has been lost at sea she wonders how she is ever going to manage.

With two young children, the rent overdue and almost nothing to live on, she has no alternative but to turn to his estranged family for help.

She sets off on the long and arduous journey to Yorkshire, but is met with hostility and soon realizes she has little choice but to return to London. Virtually destitute and desperate, Eloise is faced with her worst nightmare: she must either go to the workhouse, or abandon her children at the Foundling Hospital. But she is determined to keep them safe and under her protective wing at all costs...

The Cockney Sparrow - September 2007

Living in a squalid cellar room in Stew Lane, eighteen-year-old Clemency Skinner picks pockets in order to keep her crippled brother, Jack, and her alcoholic mother from starvation.

One cold winter’s day, her prey turns on her and she is caught by Jared Stone, who offers her the chance to become a professional thief. She turns him down, but fate throws her in the path of Augustus Throop and his band of strolling players.

When he discovers that Clemency has the voice of a nightingale he is only too eager to take her into his group of buskers, much to the annoyance of his jealous daughter, Lucilla. Desperate to get their mother from the clutches of Todd Harman, her ruthless pimp, Clemency and Jack take her with them to the cheap boarding house in Whitechapel where Augustus and his troupe have lodgings.

Despite his physical disability, Jack is a talented musician, and soon the brother and sister form part of the travelling players.

Clemency’s talent is spotted and she finds herself understudying Dorabella Darling, the star of the opera bouffe.

But Jared Stone has other plans for Clemency and Todd Harman is set on revenge …

The Best of Sisters - January 2007

The Thames carried him away from her, but would it bring him home...?

Twelve-year-old Eliza Bragg has known little in life but the cold, comfortless banks of the Thames.

Living above her uncle's chandlery, she has grown accustomed to a life of penury and servitude, her only comfort - the love and protection of her older brother, Bart.

But, one day, Bart accidentally kills a man and is forced to flee to New Zealand.

Alone, barefoot, beaten down and at the mercy of her cruel uncle, Eliza realises that her very survival is at stake...

Tilly True - October 2006

Dismissed from her position as housemaid under a cloud of misunderstanding, Tilly True is forced to return home.

But Tilly is determined to make something of her life and rather than admit the truth to her poverty-stricken family she sets out once more in search of employment.

Her journey takes her to the London law courts, a grim parsonage in one of the most notorious parts of the East End and a house of ill-repute.

But when she falls for the dangerous charms of Barnaby Palgrave, Tilly soon finds that her troubles have only just begun ...

The Dollmaker's Daughters - May 2006

This work talks about two sisters, tragically divided by love, jealousy and ambition

...For Ruby and Rosetta Capretti life in the slums of the East End holds little promise. Although very similar in looks they dream of very different futures.

Coquettish, flamboyant Rosetta is desperate to leave the claustrophobic confines of the sewing sweatshop to follow in her wayward aunt's footsteps and work under the bright lights of the music hall.

Ruby, quieter and more modest, has always longed to train as a nurse - a pipe-dream for a girl from her humble background.

And then, by the side of their father's grave, they meet handsome Jonas Crowe, but little do they know how much one man will affect both their lives forever ...

Mermaids Singing - December 2005

Born into poverty and living under the roof of her violent and abusive brother-in-law, young Kitty Cox dreams of working in a women's dress shop in the West End - a million miles away from the reality of her life as a mud-lark, scavenging on the banks of the Thames.

Fate soon intervenes and Kitty finds herself working as a skivvy for Sir Desmond and Lady Arabella Mableton in Mayfair.

Bullied by the kitchen maids, Kitty is soon taken under Lady Arabella's wing and for the first time in her life Kitty dares to hope. But Lady 'Bella' has a secret and unable to live with her domineering husband she decides to leave, fighting for custody of their daughter, Leonie.

Kitty will do anything for her mistress but her loyalty is severely tested as all their lives are thrown into turmoil and Kitty faces a life of poverty and hardship in the slums of the East End once more.