Benita Brown, scrivendo sotto lo pseudonimo di Clare Benedict, ha ottenuto riconoscimenti per i suoi romanzi rosa prima di dedicarsi alla scrittura di saghe familiari. Il suo lavoro, spesso ambientato sullo sfondo di Tyneside, in Inghilterra, dimostra una forte influenza regionale e profondità storica. Brown esplora le relazioni umane e lo svolgersi delle vite, con uno stile apprezzato per la sua qualità immersiva e la capacità di trasportare i lettori in epoche diverse.
Newcastle 1890. An incident at a school brings together three very different girls and, over the years, they become close friends. But Ruth has to abandon her plans to study, Lucy finds herself destitute and Esther's marriage turns abusive. Can their friendship survive these hardships?
A stolen child. A painful secret. One unforgettable story.
Another compelling and heartwarming wartime saga from Benita Brown.
'Breathe in deeply and you could almost be there' Northern Echo
In 1940, as bombs fall on Britain, three young evacuees from Newcastle must leave behind everything they know to find a new life.
When Kay Lockwood is left a small inheritance by her mother's old friend, actress Lana Fontaine, she travels to London, leaving behind her Northern hometown and the boyfriend she doesn't quite trust. She falls in love with Lana's ramshackle house, and the excitement of post-war London, but soon discovers a deeper mystery - who was Lana, and why was Kay so important to her? As she unravels the past, her handsome new neighbour Tom seems to offer her a bright future, but when his own dark secret is revealed, Kay feels hurt and betrayed. Can she ever forgive him?
It's a cold winter's night in 1906 but nothing can dampen the high spirits of Constance Bannerman and her fellow skivvy and best friend, Nella. For tomorrow, Constance can escape her life of drudgery at Doctor Sowerby's home in Newcastle by marrying her handsome sweetheart, the prosperous John Edington. But Constance's last night of servitude is to end in terror. As a final act of spite, Mrs Sowerby throws her out of the house late that evening where she is met by the doctor's dissolute son, Gerald. In the front yard, surrounded by freezing fog, Gerald attacks and rapes her. Distraught and unsure of what to do, Constance marries John the next day with a heavy heart. She cannot tell John what has happened, for his is a respectable family, and shame will not allow her to reveal the truth to Nella. But the worst is yet to come, for John Edington himself has a shocking secret that will make Constance feel more alone than ever...
When Thea Richardson and her best friend Ellie set out for the 1905 Newcastle Blondes and Brunettes beauty competition, Thea dreads to think what will happen if her authoritarian father ever finds out. But she never imagined that three days later she'd be ousted from the family home in Jesmond and sent to live with her mother's unmarried sister, Marjorie, in disgrace.Yet as the days go by, what was intended as punishment brings to Thea the contentment she has never known in her own home. In her Aunt Marjorie she finds the companionship she never had with her mother, and if it wasn't for the fact that her aunt's handsome artist friend, Robert Hedley, doesn't seem to know she's alive, everything would be perfect. But a dark force is about to shatter her new-found security and take Thea to a dangerous world she never dreamt existed...
Cullercoats Bay, 1895. Titian-haired Kate Lawson is eighteen when the sea claims her beloved and leaves her with a broken heart - and a shameful secret. Banished from home by her violent father, Kate relies on the kindness of her aunt, until she too is cruelly taken from her.When Kate meets Richard Adamson, the owner of a fleet of steam trawlers, she knows she should despise the man who's stealing the livelihood of hardworking fisherfolk - yet she finds herself falling in love with him. Has Kate found her safe harbour at last, or will the sins of the past destroy her chance for happiness?
