Lena Kennedy

Maggie Macleod was weary of life with a soul sickness that ate into every fiber of her being. In a mad way, it did not seem strange to her that she should be on the way to High Court to stand trial for the murder of her husband. Her marriage seemed to have been one long dreary desert lit by flares of cruelty...

"With the outbreak of World War II, the Flanagan family is sundered, shaken from their crowded nest in London's East End ... The war brings tragedy - even the old home is in ruins, bombed and shell-splintered. It's Amy, with her fierce courage and determination, who pulls the family back together. Then handsome Sparky, full of wicked charm and Cockney banter, walks into her life and wins her heart. Turbulent happy years follow; times of great joy for Amy and times of bitter heart-rending when family ties war against the needs of her feckless darling husband"--Publisher's description.

"In the turmoil and confusion of London's East End between the wars, young Nelly Kelly soon learns that life may never match her expectations. Foced to keep house for her autocratic, charming father, Nelly toils in a sweatshop to keep her family fed and clothed. But when life is hard, Nelly has friendship, dancing and her early dreams to cling to. Dreams which slowly crumble as marriage, the war and a lost baby are followed by the heartache of a lost love ... faced by a crisis which will test her courage to the limit, no tragedy can change Nelly Kelly's determination to be her own woman"--Publisher's description.

SAGAS. In the heart of teeming nineteenth-century London, Owen Oliver walks out of his gloomy, unwelcoming lodgings - and he doesn't stop his travels until he reaches Kent. There, Owen's life is dramatically altered. An orphan, he is adopted by a loving old lady and her roguish amicable son, Tom. With Tom's help, he secures employment in the shipping agency of an old sea captain and his fortunes soon increase as he proves to be invaluable in his clerical job. But Owen is not content. All around him he sees a widening gap between the comfortable middle classes and the helpless destitution of the poor. He is horrified by the plight of the thin and hungry and the evils of child labour. So when he takes the matter into his own hands and rescues a beautiful ragged child with haunting blue eyes and long golden hair, his fate is sealed ...

Her mother's violent death left Marcelle at the mercy of her lecherous stepfather, until Thomas Mayhew, King's Messenger and attendant to the flamboyant court favourite Robert Carr, offers her protection, freedom, and love - but such perfect happiness is vulnerable.