But when a new businessman in the form of Joseph Dawson enters their lives, both Charlotte and her father decide he's the man for her and, within six months, Charlotte marries the dashing mill owner from Accrington.Then a young mill worker is found dead in the swollen River Ribble. With Joseph's business nearly bankrupt, it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems and Joseph is not the man he pretends to be. Heavily pregnant, penniless and heartbroken, Charlotte is forced to face the reality that life may never be the same again . . .

    Discovered by the police, Bincy is taken to an orphanage, where she learns that Mama is not the only person who doesn't want her. In truth, nobody wants her, and Bincy is forced to cling to the orphanage bully Mae for comfort. As the years pass, Mae forces Bincy to do everything she demands, from picking on the younger girls to giving up her meager allotment of food. When Bincy is betrayed by Mae, she's sent to work in a manor house as a scullery maid. That's where Bincy meets two young men: Judd, the street urchin who comes into the cellar to scavenge for food, and Henry, the charismatic young master of the house. Despite Judd's warnings, Bincy finds herself falling for Henry. But when Henry demands more from her than she's willing to give, Bincy has to make a choice: give herself to him or face her greatest fear of being alone and discarded once more.

     From Chapter 1: “Pearl,” Momma tried to make her voice strong. “I aim to whip you for what you done.” Those words struck me hard. Why was she saying a thing like that to me? “I saved you from those dogs,” I said triumphantly as I looked down at Momma’s bleeding legs. Surely she knew what would have happened to her if it hadn’t been for me. “You disobeyed me. You know better than to disobey me.” Her words troubled me something awful, and I shivered with dread as tried to think of a way to make her appreciate what I’d done. I didn’t deserve a whipping for saving her life. From Chapter 23: I had what few things I owned in a feed sack when Frank came in the door. “Them’s my hogs,” I told him. “I’ll cross the hill twice a day to feed ‘em. Don’t you dare do anything with ‘em.” “What are you talkin’ about.” “Your precious ma said she’d get Ralph’s shotgun and kill me if I didn’t get out of her house.” “No way,” Frank said. “Ask her yourself,” I told him. I heard the sound of Effie moving her wheelchair over the floor. “Frank, honey. I said no sech a thing. You know what a liar she is.” I lifted my chin and glared at Frank. I needed to see whose side he was going to take.” “Calm down,” he told me. “I’ll put Ma in bed so we can talk.” Those weren’t the words I needed to hear. “Oh, Frankie,” Effie moaned. “What are we gonna do with her?” Frank didn’t answer as he took hold of the chair. I slung the sack over my shoulder and left the house. The least I could do was see if Lizzie would welcome me for a few days or not. From the Epilogue: I saw the tiredness come to Aunt Pearl’s face and didn’t ask her any more questions. I’d been told hundreds of stories by dozens of family members as well as non-family members. Aunt Pearl was right. My favorite words when I was growing up were, “Tell me a story.” Most everyone willingly obliged. Some people would be slow getting started, but once they got their story telling ability warmed up, they would hold me captive for hours. Pearl’s story has taken me many years to write. Pearl died less than a year after I’d gone to see her with my trusty tape recorder in hand. Much to my regret, she told me what was true. I’d waited a little too long to tape her stories, but I could still replay those stories in my head. Most of the stories I remember came from Lizzie. Once she started talking she continued talking even when there was no one left in the room to listen. I’ve done my best to connect some of the stories I’ve been told together in order to make this book possible. These stories hold a lot of truth, but I want the readers to realize that I’ve taken an author’s liberty in order to fit each story together into what I hope to be both entertaining and insightful. Therefore, I’ve written this book as fiction. There’s no way I could possibly know what people were thinking long before I was born. No way I can second-guess exactly what happened and why it happened, no way I can claim this book to be non-fiction although it is based on real happenings.

    A young man is given a new start in life as a result of an impulsive action, beginning a journey that will take him to the far reaches of the known world to watch - and sometimes to partake in - the rise and fall of mighty empires.

    Face to face. One machine against another.It was shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. Martin Falconer and his friend, Frank, were anxious to ‘get into the scrap’ as soon as possible, their youth blinding them to the real danger of it all.Geoffrey, Martin’s elder brother, knew that it wasn’t a game. He had fought in the trenches, been wounded and had seen friends die.For Geoffrey the R.F.C. offered an opportunity to escape the mud and horror of the Front, while for Martin and Frank it was the chance to be in at the start of a totally different kind of fighting. They were to be pioneers.A scintillating, full-throttle thriller of the First World War, perfect for fans of W. E. Johns, Derek Robinson and Geoffrey Wellum.

    When she lost the printing business that was their livelihood soon after they had lost both their mother and father, they also lost the home in which they had both been born. Relegated to a life in a grey tenement, and long hours of Ada working in the Bow match factory and little Emma selling wares on the cold, unaccommodating streets of east London, the sisters had nothing but each other. What they shared now was a life without warmth, a life of disadvantage, a life where roast lamb and gravy was no more than a shared illusion, where Christmas was not a day apart from any other. And then Ada was forced to enter into a contract with a monster. Would he sell her to the highest bidder just as he had done to so many women before? What would become of little Emma if she were taken from her? Everett Floyd was known to be heartless. How was it that two young, vulnerable and innocent girls could melt his icy heart without even trying? In an age of misery where money distinguished people - and separated lives - could two very different worlds come together to heal the pain of the past and bring a new reality?

    Ordered by the League of Nations to keep the peace, he has just a handful of aeroplanes to control the skies over Mesopotamia. Attacked by rebellious Kurds and then an invading Turkish army, the Royal Air Force is hard pressed to keep the peace. When an old nemesis from Bill’s past emerges, he finds himself fighting for not only peace but his life. Based on true events this is a fast-moving novel about the early days of the Royal Air Force.

    When an enigmatic stranger steals her heart, can she know he wants her for the right reasons?London 1808: Widowed at the age of twenty, Ann has no optimism for the future. At the beck and call of her domineering mother she longs to make a new life for herself with the legacy left by her late husband. But it's not that easy. Not when it means leaving her sisters behind. Her world is turned upside down when a curious gentleman stops to speak to her. Chas is new to the area, but he seems to know a lot about her … and he certainly looks well-to-do. Could he be her saviour? With newfound hope Ann dares to dream again, but Chas has a secret. Something he refuses to share. As their friendship grows, there are those who want to keep them apart … but when Ann stumbles upon Chas’s past, she realises that only she can decide what their future holds. Inspired by the compelling family history of author V L McBeath, The Young Widow is a standalone story in The Ambition & Destiny Series. Set in Georgian-era London, forty years before the start of this historical family saga, The Young Widow adds another dimension to this epic series. Get your copy today. Please Note: The Young Widow is written in UK English. Other books in The Ambition & Destiny Series: Prequel: Condemned by Fate Part 1: Hooks & Eyes Part 2: Less Than Equals Part 3: When Time Runs Out Part 4: Only One Winner Part 5: Different World

     After five years of hard work, Elliott Maitland has succeeded to make profitable the ranch he bought on a whim from a gambler who had no interest in working with cattle. A frosty winter day finds Elliott in town, hoping to conclude his business before the blizzard starts in earnest. Sam, the owner of the mercantile, asks him to give shelter to the new schoolteacher, who just arrived in town and has nowhere to stay. Celestine Tillman is in desperate need of a job and a place to live. Being hired as a teacher in Wyoming is a blessing. Discovering that no one is waiting for her at the train depot and no room is available in town so close to Christmas is distressing. Going home with this rancher could be dangerous, but what choice does she have? This adventure packed fictional story is set in Laramie, Wyoming at the end of the nineteen century and presents a true picture of the western town with all the good and the bad, the modern and the old west mixed together. An enduring town moving forward and changing with the times.

    Oswald proves to be more sadistic and violent than she could ever have imagined. On learning she is expecting a child, Angeline makes plans to run away and take her chances fending for herself and her baby. But then tragedy takes over . . .

    She knows she cannot stay, but she doesn't want to leave her sister behind. Her only hope is to accept an arranged marriage and pray this man, sure to be homely and elderly, will adopt her sister. The striking Thomas Johnson is anything but homely or elderly. He has come to the orphanage expecting to wed a plain, obedient woman who will be as silent as a shadow in his home. The beautiful, intelligent, and independent Maurine is a complete surprise. Maurine realizes he could have had his pick of women, so why did he come to an orphanage? Their first night together on the return trip to his home, she comes to understand he doesn't want her as a wife, but as a governess to his children. Within days, she is falling in love with a man who refuses to get close to her, a man who is hiding something about the death of his first wife. This is a tale of two sisters: Maurine, who yearns to be loved by the man who took her as his bride, and Rebecca who finds love in the arms of the son of a wealthy Cherokee plantation owner. Billow Creek Bride is a careful blend of laughter and tears, sorrows and joys as these two women discover strength within themselves to meet the challenges of life and love in the 1830's, and the event that would change history known as 'The Trail of Tears.'

    He only stops travelling when he reaches Kent and there his life is dramatically altered, when he is adopted by a loving old lady and her roguish son Tom.

    

    The action of this exciting historical mystery romance takes place in the lively and pulsating world of Restoration London, with its bear-baiting and dog-fighting pits, with its taverns and bawdy houses, its libertines and Puritans, its fops and its society beauties. In the cold winter of 1664, the Thames has frozen over, and a great comet has appeared in the skies above the city of London. The comet seems a portent of disaster because England is in a deeply troubled and divided state. The King, Charles II, had been welcomed back as a saviour four years before, but is now resented by increasing numbers of his own people. And war too is looming with the Dutch, England’s great seagoing trade rivals… Molly Titchen is a precocious 16-year-old orange seller at the new King’s Theatre in Drury Lane who dreams of becoming an actress, and strutting the stage in breeches parts. Yet being an actress in the King’s company seems to be a dangerous choice of profession at present as a succession of young actresses die in mysterious circumstances. The leader of the company, Sir Thomas Killigrew, asks a wealthy young physician and merchant, Henry Raven, to investigate the deaths of the actresses. Raven and his lawyer friends Anthony Mawdsley and Adam Strange are regular theatregoers and the three soon become drawn into the mysterious affairs at the King’s theatre. Yet Mawdsley is also chief secretary to the Lord Chancellor, the 1st Earl of Clarendon, and the King’s chief minister, and therefore has his hands full with affairs of state. When a mysterious masked man threatens the life of the King, Mawdsley is forced to turn to his friend Henry Raven for help. Raven in turn needs the help of the aspiring actress Molly, which brings them together in their search for a wicked murderer and a scarred madman with an evil plan for London on his mind...