National Network for Equitable Library Service

A novel of wartime Britain, as the lives of two men are intertwined like good luck and bad, love and loss, life and death, from the ruins of Poland to the rolling English countryside.

In January 1914, Jonathan Crane returns home to his village in the north of England with a rare thing - a beautiful, glamorous American bride. Beatrice struggles to adapt to this cold, grey place and tries to befriend the young women who are her new neighbours, but they are in awe of her. Beatrice, born in Illinois, is a woman with a past.

Austen tells the story of Catherine Morland and her dangerously sweet nature, innocence, and sometime self-delusion. Though Austen's fallible heroine is repeatedly drawn into scrapes while vacationing at Bath and during her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey, Catherine eventually triumphs, blossoming into a discerning woman who learns truths about love, life, and the heady power of literature.

Elizabeth Deravenel finds herself at the crossroads of love and duty as she runs one of the most powerful business dynasties in history.

Sequel to "The radiant way", this novel continues the story of Alix, Liz and Esther and focuses on the industrial city of Northam in Yorkshire, where the problems and opportunities of eighties Britain are vividly encapsulated.