Angela Huth

The friendship of two women in a Scottish fishing village, tracing their rivalry for men, jealousy and betrayal. With age, hurts are more difficult to repair and when the daughter of one tries to seduce the other's boyfriend, the friendship ends.

The year is 1941 and John and Faith Lawrence's farmhands have been called away to serve their country. Desperate for help, the Lawrences take advantage of England's new Land Army plan, which brings young women out of the house and into the fields. But the three "land girls" that John and Faith receive may be more trouble than they bargained for. Prue is a boy-hungry hairdresser from Manchester, abruptly transferred from the world of lipstick and rouge to a life of plowing, sweating, and manure shoveling. Agatha is a brainy Cambridge undergraduate who is eager to share her understanding of Homer (among other things) with Mr. Lawrence's oldest son. And Stella is a dreamy Surrey girl who finds herself devastated by her separation from her lover, Phillip, who is currently fighting in the English Navy. Three young women from different backgrounds find themselves thrown together, sharing an attic bedroom and developing friendships that will last a lifetime. Land Girls is the poignant, intelligent, and often heartbreaking account of their first summer together. With wit, charm, and emotion, Angela Huth has created a novel of delicate passions, richly observed.

Assuming the governorship of the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land, Sir John Franklin and his wife adopt a young Aboriginal girl, Mathinna, and ten years later after Franklin and his crew disappear in the Arctic, Charles Dickens takes an interest in the story, which has a profound effect on his own life.

The war is over, but life goes on for Land Girls Prue, Stella and Ag. While two of the girls are married, Prue, the incorrigble flirt, is engaged in a quest for a man toprovide her with security and gold taps. A year after the girls leave Hallows Farm, Prue finds just such a man and a marriage that protects her from the hardships of post-war Manchester. But still she hankers for the life she so loved as a Land Girl.