Last month we published an author review about Mary Wood who lives on Camposol. This month we are reviewing her three books which can be purchased from Amazon or locally at Best Wishes.
The Breckton Trilogy
Set during a time when the rich rode roughshod over the poor and women had no voice, when it was said there was no such thing as rape and a man beating his wife was just his right to keep his missus in check, The Breckton Trilogy spans the years of 1877-1959. It chronicles the lives of two families at each end of the class divide. The rich have it all and they take no heed of how their actions have devastating consequences for the poor.
The books can be read in any order as they are stand alone novels as well as being part of the trilogy, but it is suggested they are read in this order:
An Unbreakable Bond 1913-1932
The beginning – The sins of the rich impact on the poor.
It will immerse you in the, sometimes harrowing, but heart-warming lives of Megan and Hattie, two women brought up in an orphanage where they formed a bond as if they were sisters. Their fight to survive against all that is thrown at them takes you on a journey of the times and of how it was for women. Megan, losing the man she loves to another, marries the surly Bert Armitage, and suffers beatings and abuse at his hands. Hattie, raped by her master in service, takes her ten pounds ‘silence money’ to try to find a life in Leeds, but she descends into degradation. Together, they fight back and win against all odds over the rich and powerful Laura Harvey, a woman whose desire to have everything and everyone she wants, causes Megan’s near death and the man, both she and Laura love, to go to prison for a murder committed by Megan’s son, Billy.
To Catch A Dream 1877-1900
The sins of one man impact on generations of women.
This is the story of how it all began and we learn the circumstances of Megan and Hattie’s birth. We meet Megan’s mother Bridget and her grandmother, Bridie. As a young girl of fifteen, Bridie is forced from her native Ireland by her father, a Freedom Fighter turned traitor. She is violated by him and taken to a correction convent as his sin is considered to be hers. Betrayed by a gypsy lad who had befriended her as a child and is the love of her life, she is saved from the life of prostitution she falls into, by the gentle miner, Will Haddler and taken to Breckton, but Bridie has a passion in her that cannot be denied. A fateful affair with Laura Harvey’s ancestor, Andrew Harvey, coincides with the death of Will and the return of the gypsy who has come back to claim Bridie as his. Trying to limit the damage to his own life, Andrew Harvey takes action that sees Bridie is sent to a workhouse and once more her life takes a downward turn. Issy, a kind and loyal country girl, tries to help. She takes Bridie’s daughter Bridget as her own, but in the end her efforts to save Bridget from her mother’s out of control life, proves a step too far.
Tomorrow Brings Sorrow 1939-1959
The sins of the past impact on the present.
The world faces many changes brought on by war. Megan has found happiness and stability with her first love, Jack, but the threat of her schizophrenic son, Billy, still casts a shadow over them. His release is imminent and for Sarah, Jack’s daughter, this opens up a fate she cannot fight. With her love and respect for Billy eroded over the years as she came to realise he has an evil core, Sarah now lives in fear of him and what he will do if she refuses him. Forsaking her true love, she marries Billy in an attempt to protect those who are very dear to her, but love and hate will out and the consequences are devastating. Those consequences are compounded by the incestuous love between twins Theresa and Terrence Crompton, Laura Harvey’s descendants, and their taking of all they need from whatever source they please. For this they play on the ‘out-for-what-she-can-get’, land-girl, Rita, but revenge is sweet for some, even if it eventually unearths a secret that will shake the very roots of the rich of Breckton and tie Megan’s family’s life forever, to those who have caused them heartache over the years.
A fourth book, a spin-off of The Breckton Trilogy was due for publication at the end of February.