Friday 5 January 2024

New Release!

 

The Winter Widow is out now!

When all is lost, the hand of friendship is everything…

New Release 2 Jan 2024!

#historicalfiction #bookaddicts #readers #bookcommunity #familysaga #booklovers

https://mybook.to/TheWinterWidow




Tuesday 6 June 2023

New release!

 Publication Day! πŸ₯³

Thank you to all who pre-ordered my newest release, The Waterfront Lass. 😁
Meg might be poor, but she is proud and spirited and will strive to keep her family together! Set in Victorian Yorkshire.

Sunday 11 September 2022

The Soldier's Daughter released!

 



In The Soldier’s Daughter, Evie lives close to the made-up village of Lylston, which I located north of the real market town of Bingley and set between the higher villages of Micklethwaite and East Morton, leading up to the Ilkley Moor area. 

Like many towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Bingley prospered during the Industrial Revolution. The Bingley section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was completed in 1774, linking the town with Skipton, and Bradford via the Bradford Canal. The canal passes through the town centre and ascends the side of the valley via the Bingley Five Rise and Bingley Three Rise Locks. Several woollen and worsted mills were built and people migrated from the surrounding countryside to work in them. Alexander’s mill is located in the valley between the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Aire.

Map

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This map is what I used to set Lylston Village, Bellingham Hall and Alexander’s mill in comparison to where Bingley is situated. Evie’s home (and Mr Lund’s farm) is just north of Lylston village.

A riding track Evie would have used over the moors.

A picture containing grass, sky, outdoor, field

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A view from the moors overlooking the valley. Something Evie would have seen when she left her home.

A glimpse of Bingley in the valley.

 

In Victorian times, Bingley was a hive of industry and a main route through the Aire Valley. Below are two photos I used as inspiration for when Evie is in the town, especially when she secretly meets Hal down the lane beside the pub and Alexander sees her but she denies it when he confronts her.

 A horse and buggy on a street

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The Soldier's Daughter

Yorkshire 1860

With the heat of their beloved India far behind them, Evie Davenport and her widowed British Army officer father, are starting a new life in England. But Evie is struggling. With her dearest mother gone, Yorkshire with its cold, damp countryside and strict societal rules makes Evie feel suffocated and alone.
Her friendship with Sophie Bellingham, the gently reared daughter of a wealthy rail baron, is Evie’s only comfort. Until the arrival of local cotton mill owner, Alexander Lucas.
Newly returned from America, it is expected Alexander will marry and finally make England his home. And Sophie with her family connections and polite manners is the obvious choice.
But when Alexander meets Evie, a simmering passion ignites between them. Evie, with her rebellious spirit is like no other woman Alex has ever met, but to reject Sophie for Evie would cause a scandal and devastate everyone Evie loves.
Evie knows she must do her duty. But in doing so faces the unbearable future of being without the man she loves.

Available now on Amazon: http://getbook.at/thesoldiersdaughter

Tuesday 26 April 2022

2000 Reviews

 

Over 2000 reviews in 3 months of release!

Thank you to those who take the time to review any book and especially my books! LOL

The Orphan in the Peacock Shawl

“The writing is vivid and gripping!”

Annabelle can’t hide forever from the wealthy Hartley family, but can she give up the baby she loves?

Amazon: http://getbook.at/OrphanPeacockShawl




Wednesday 20 April 2022

Hello Lovely Readers!


It is always sad to say goodbye to friends, and so it was for me when I said tara to The Mersey Mothers of Reckoner's Row. Set in 1953, Liverpool. The year of the Queen's Coronation is also the year local accountant, Evie Kilgaren, is hoping her summer wedding to Danny Harris will go ahead. 

Or will a new rival firm finally drive Danny's haulage business into the ground and destroy everything Evie and Danny have tirelessly worked for? 

Although, this is not the only cloud hanging over Reckoner's Row, A killer is at large in the dockside streets. Evie and her trainee hairstylist sister, Lucy, could be in terrible danger when Ada Harris gets alarming news from her estranged husband, Bert, who has damning news of Evie's mother's killer. 

Bert has the evidence in a box, hidden for many years. But does Ada have the courage to open it when Bert breathes his last? Find out in the third of the Reckoner's Row trilogy: The Mersey Mothers.




Number One on Publication Day!
This long-awaited brand new novel, is the answer everybody has been waiting for in the brilliant, gritty Reckoner's Row series, #TheMerseyMothers
Start reading now!

Thursday 27 January 2022

historical diaries and journals

 

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I collect Victorian diaries and journals, written mainly by women who have arrived in Australia after leaving England, but also by women born in colonial Australia. These diaries are brilliant when I’m writing a story set in colonial Australia and they give me an insight to how they lived and what was happening in the world around them at that time. From their personal entries, we can learn what was important to them, their daily routine, their views and opinions. They can also lift some of those myths we in the modern world tend to think as true.

Below are some pages from a selected few of my diaries, which may show why I adore them so much.

This page is from The Letters of Rachel Henning. A genteel lady who left England and ventured to Colonial Australia to join her brother who was farming out there. It’s a fascinating account of her life and full of details about those times.

I also have a few diaries, or collections of letters written during the First World War, which is another favourite era for me to write.

Below is an example from the book, Unknown Warriors, The Letters of Kate Luard, RRC and BAR Nursing Sister in France 1914-1918.

Kate Luard is one of those unsung heroines of the war. A dedicated nursing sister who went to the front line to give aid to the wounded. Her letters are fascinating, harrowing, tragic but filled with such devotion and commitment.

Below is a page from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. A lovely diary of a naturalist’s world in 1906 written by English lady, Edith Holden.

Get your copy of The Orphan in the Peacock shawl below:

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Thursday 4 November 2021

Next book 2022!

 Orphan in the Peacock Shawl Preorder! Out Jan 2022! Available in ebook, paperback, audio and libraries large print.

Annabelle can’t hide forever from the wealthy Hartley family, but can she give up the baby she loves? #historicalfiction #historicalsaga #YorkUK #Yorkshire #saga #Victorian #familydrama

http://getbook.at/OrphanPeacockShawl



Friday 8 October 2021

New release!

 A big no, HUGE, thank you to everyone who has bought Beyond the Distant Hills. One week since release and I've received some lovely messages from readers who have enjoyed it. πŸ₯°

Beyond the Distant Hills – NEW RELEASE! (Book 2)
Ellen survived the Irish Famine. Can she survive the future in a strange land? Or has she made the greatest mistake of her life?
A Distant Horizon (Book 1)

Friday 10 September 2021




Hello dear Readers, Writers and Bloggers, 

I’m hoping you’ve had a really lovely summer, kept safe and sound and managed to enjoy life despite the problem of Covid 19! I'm afraid this splash of September sunshine won't last too long, but I'm making the most of the "garden desk" while I can!


I hope too, that you’ve read some amazing books from all the authors on this blog and have topped up your home libraries, kindles and e-devices with a great selection of books.


If you'd like to browse my books with AMAZON you'll find a selection of sagas from Victorian to the 1960's.


I’ve just begun work on my new book, slower this time, hampered by a hand injury, but the outline is done and the working title at the moment is THE WAR WIDOW’S POSY. This may change over the next few months, but so far my heroine is the young and lovely orphan 17-year-old Kate Wilson, who is just about to be married to her sweetheart Harry, when - yes, you’ve guessed it - war breaks out and all healthy, able and willing young men are called to fight for their country. Harry is among the first volunteers but is certain the conflict will be over by Christmas 1914. However, as we all know, this was a very vain hope. True love, glory, grief, coping with monstrous disability - and courage - run side by side in this family saga and I’m really enjoying tackling some very difficult subjects. This book will be next year’s publication - if all goes to plan!


Meanwhile, my book GIRL WITH SECRETS is at a fabulous discounted price of 99p with 

Hello Books, so follow this link if you’d like to download a bargain!  

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That’s all my news for now - take care of yourselves and enjoy what we hope will be our Indian summer!


Carol X 

Monday 23 August 2021

 

My latest book, The Mersey Angels, is the follow-up to The Mersey Mistress and follows the lives of nurses Anna and Ellie who must follow their hearts - even if it leads them to the battlefields.