THE WINDS OF CHANGE: A story of love, loyalty and betrayal on the eve of the Spanish Civil War

A story of love, loyalty and betrayal on the eve of the Spanish Civil War. Spain is in political turmoil with strikes and demonstrations, unemployment is high and the people are starving.

THE HOUSE ON THE BEACH

The Spanish Civil War is over but the heavy hand of the winners is still felt across the country, especially for women.

Inma and Rocio meet as children at a time when Spain is ruled by the military dictator Francisco Franco. Inma is rich and Rocio comes from a poor family but nevertheless become close friends. They share happiness, fears, disappointments and broken hearts, until one day when Inma’s actions threaten to tear them apart.

When Rocio is seduced by a handsome foreigner and becomes pregnant, it is Inma who saves her from disgrace. Some years later, when Inma too becomes pregnant, things take a more sinister turn. Her subsequent actions have a devastating affect on Rocio.

This social drama tells the story of two young women, struggling against the restrictions imposed on women by the State and the Church in Franco’s Spain.

“What a desperately sad story! I’ve just finished reading ‘The House on the Beach,’ and I’ve been in tears! Fascinating background about Franco’s Spain – we tend to forget (or did we in UK ever really know?) just how repressive it was. You’ve certainly used your research (‘Daughters of Spain’) to good account here.” Ann Victoria Roberts (author of Louisa Elliot)

LOVING HARRY

Fashion designer Carla Kane has been too busy climbing the career ladder to sustain a long-term relationship – until she meets the charming, charismatic Harry Wilkinson, and falls deeply in love for the first time.

There’s only one problem: Harry is already married to Barbara, a stay-at-home wife who’s been content to devote all her energies to looking after her husband and children. The close-knit Wilkinson family is blown apart when Harry leaves Barbara, deserting the family home to start a new life in Spain with Carla.

One day Carla returns home to find her dead husband floating in the swimming pool. The Spanish police dismiss it as an accident but Carla knows there is more to it than that. What can she tell his family? And how can she protect herself?

His children want to evict her from the family home and the only weapons she has against them are the secrets she has discovered about their parents.

She has to decide whether to use this information to save her home, knowing the devastation it would cause the children, or whether to let the past lie and start a new life for herself.

This page-turning love story is criss-crossed with lies, deceit and intrigue, where everyone has a secret and no-one knows the whole truth.

THE THREAD THAT BINDS US

Meet Susan Masters—knick-named the Ice Maiden by her work colleagues—and her elderly, complacent husband, her unambitious son, her misogynist boss and her quarrelling parents.

Long set in her ways, Susan’s life seems unlikely to change until she discovers that she has a half-brother called Michael. At first she is shocked and angry. But when she gets used to this revelation things in her past start to make sense.

Susan’s childhood had been full of secrets—‘Don’t tell anyone,’ was her mother’s favourite phrase. Now the secret her parents had been keeping from her all her life is about to change everything.

Her first instinct is not to tell anyone about Michael. But nevertheless she needs to find him. The desire to know more about her half-brother becomes an obsession and she soon finds herself enmeshed in a web of lies and deceit as she tries to track him down without her family knowing.

When she and Michael finally meet, Susan is faced with a dilemma—she can walk away and forget about him or she can tell her family and face the consequences.

LOVE IS ALL

Teresa’s husband, Mark, decides to confess that he is having an affair with her best friend. And sets off a chain of events that reverberates throughout his whole family. The lives of those he loves are changed forever.

When Teresa finally wakes up, she is in a hospital bed. The last thing she remembers is losing control of the car and heading for the central reservation. The rest is a muddle of flashing lights and torrential rain. She tries to sit up but nothing moves. It is as if her body is not her own.

The doctors diagnose Locked-In Syndrome. Teresa is effectively locked inside her own body and unable to communicate with anyone. It is a nightmare from which she cannot wake.

Teresa refuses to accept what has happened to her. She seeks refuge in an imaginary parallel world, a world where she is a desirable woman again. She refuses to acknowledge either the doctors or her family, but her son will not let her go. He is determined to give her back the will to live.

THE EYE OF THE FALCON The Al-Andalus Series Book Two

A story of intrigue, betrayal and murder set in the royal court of 10th century Andalusia.

When the caliph of al-Andalus, al-Hakim II, dies leaving an eleven-year-old boy as his heir, Queen Subh knows that her son is in danger.

Enemies in the Omayyad court have their eyes on the throne. A woman of great intelligence, beauty and ambition, she does not intend to let her enemies win.
She must use her wits and beauty to ensure that her son comes to no harm and that she remains Queen Mother. She sets up a Regency to rule in his place until the child comes of age.

But she has underestimated the ruthlessness and ambition of the Regent. Holding on to the seat of power is not as easy as she thought. In the end she has to chose between her own ambitions and her son’s safety.

‘Based around real events, this book magically and effectively brings to life a story rich in intrigue.’ Historical Novel Review Society’

THE SHINING CITY The Al-Andalus Series Book One

Exotic, romantic and rich with historical detail, The Shining City is a timeless story of love, family and the unexpected consequences of our actions. Set in 10th century Spain, in the time of the Moorish occupation, it is, above all, a story of love and honour.When he moved to Madinat al-Zahra, Qasim thought he had escaped his turbulent past but when his youngest son falls in love with the Caliph’s concubine, he sets off a train of unimaginable consequences and puts all his family, including Qasim, in danger. Qasim’s secret is about to be revealed and all he has worked for destroyed.

SPANISH LAVENDER Love in the time of War

‘Spanish Lavender’ is a love story set in the Spanish Civil War.

THE ONLY BLUE DOOR

Maggie is only twelve years old. One day her happy life is torn apart and there is no-one to help her.

It is September 1940, Maggie and her young siblings, Grace and Billy, are living in the East End of London with their mother. Their father has just been killed at Dunkirk and their mother goes into hospital to have her fourth child, leaving the children with a neighbour.

In one of the worst bombing raids of the war their home is destroyed and the neighbour is killed. Bewildered and frightened, the children wander the streets until they are taken in by some nuns.

But their problems are not over; no-one can trace their mother and, labelled as orphans, they are sent as child migrants to Australia.

The novel traces their adventures in their new country, the homesickness, the heartbreak when Billy is separated from his sisters and the loneliness of life in a cold and unfeeling orphanage.

Maggie remains convinced that her mother is alive and is determined to find her.

Based on the experiences of real people, the novel reflects the attitudes of the day towards child migration during and after the Second World War.

TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN a Jacaranda Dunne Mystery Book Four

In Too Close to the Sun, the fourth crime novel in the series, it is JD’s mother, Rosa, who insists that she investigates the tragic death of a young man who falls into the sea while paramotoring close to the harbour.

As shocked sunbathers watch the para-motor stall and the pilot desperately struggle to regain height, a strong gust of wind suddenly sweeps him across the harbour wall and out of sight. A second para-motor close by continues to fly due west, apparently oblivious to what has happened.

The coast guards are quick to reach the scene but at first there is no sign of the man or his machine. Police divers are brought in to recover his dead body. They find nothing unusual about the death and declare it an unfortunate accident, but JD’s mother, Rosa, is not convinced and contacts her daughter. The dead man is the son and heir of a prominent aristocrat, the Duke of Roble and she is a close friend of the family. She explains to JD that the father is very ill and is not expected to recover. His son stood to inherit both the title and a considerable fortune if he had lived. Now his sister has become the duke’s heir. Not only is she a possible suspect but she could also be in danger.

As JD begins to investigate the case she struggles to find any evidence that points to murder, however there are plenty of people with a motive to kill him. The main question is who had the means to do it? And who is the mystery man who was paramotoring with him?