The house was owned by Henry Mullins, big, burly, and a hard drinker. Henry made life hell for his four stepchildren who looked half-starved and frequently got bashed. Seventeen-year-old Kitty was the one Jamie felt most sorry for. She took the brunt of Henry Mullins' bad temper whilst trying to protect her sisters and brother. When Mullins suddenly died - in somewhat suspicious circumstances - Kitty realised they could be in trouble. If she wasn't careful the authorities would take the younger children away - split the family up. She wasn't having that, not after all they'd gone through, and nice, kind Jamie Blair was the one to save them. Too late Jamie found himself with a ready-made family and a stubborn and fiery young termagant called Kitty who was determined not to let him go.

    Her French husband was killed in the First World War before their son Davie was born, and since then the young widow has put him first in everything. Her motherly instincts tell her that Davie would benefit from having a father, and when Fergus Cameron proposes to her, Annie knows he offers them both comfort and security.But is there more to life than just safety and good sense? When she and Davie bump into Richard Ross near their home in Kew, her instincts are proved correct. Richard, a lawyer, has an easygoing charm and she agrees, at his insistence, to become his wife.But shortly afterwards she wonders if there was more to their original chance meeting than she thought… Why does Richard know more about her past than she does? And can love survive the poison of treachery? From Teresa Crane, author of the smash-hit The Italian House , this is a vivid and unputdownable story of life and love, deception and betrayal.

    Cyril Potter is a secret gambler whose debts have become so crippling that he can see no way out, and he commits suicide. Left to clear the debts, his family are forced to sell everything the own. As daughter Kate labours in a hat-making factory to support the family, she catches the eye of the wealthy factory owner. But tragedy strikes the family once more when unmarried Kate is left pregnant...

     Escaping a brutal father, Briony runs to James, the man she loves. With his family’s blessing, they marry and prepare for a new life in a new country – America. A wedding gift of two tickets to travel on an ocean liner is a wonderful surprise. Full of anticipation and hope, they set sail. Only, fate has sent them a challenge that tests, not just their strength and love, but their very survival.

    But when Lady Clifton dies soon after giving birth, Sir George hands the child over to be brought up on Beeswing Farm. John Hoverton and Laurie Clifton are raised as brothers.

    Harper. By the age of 18 she has become a talented cook, but when she falls in love with a Latimer, all their lives change with frightening swiftness.

    She is the top stylist in a reputable hair salon, and her husband Dennis is dreaming of the big time with his rock 'n' roll band. Only one thing mars Kacie's happiness: her parents' constant disapproval that she doesn't have a 'proper' job or a more respectable husband, like her sister Caroline. But when Caroline turns up on Kacie's doorstep, asking to stay for a while, the revelation that follows plunges Kacie's own life into chaos and threatens everything that matters...

    She inherits their house while her twin brother Mark is left the family steel works. When World War I breaks out, Mark joins the RAF, and the management of the business is left in Isabel's hands, which is not welcomed by the town's industrialists. She makes many enemies and has to struggle to keep her business alive. After much unhappiness, she finally finds love with the manager of a local foundry as well as the identity of her real father.

    Famous for its ancient hilltop monastery, Monte Cassino achieved a new and grimmer renown in the Second World War when it became a German bastion against the Allied advance through Italy.Even in February 1944, when the abbey buildings had been reduced to rubble by aerial bombardment, the mountain itself continued to command the adjoining river valleys and to block the road to Rome.Cassino had to be taken. Frontal assault had proved a costly failure, but now the highly ambitious Brigadier Heathfield had devised a plan for an outflanking operation. Total victory, or total defeat, could hinge on this single mission. A stirring and powerful thriller concerning the final years of the Second World War, perfect for fans of Alistair MacLean, David McDine and Jack Higgins.

    They knew they had struggles of a practical nature ahead of them - trying to build the bankrupt mill into a new and thriving business - but Madeleine felt that, providing everything was right between her and Leon, they could face whatever lay ahead. But trouble and disruption were still to be part of her future - for Leon's family in France bitterly resented the Yorkshire girl who had taken their son away from them. And Hortense Murer, who had thought she would be Leon's wife, resented her even more. And over all hung the shadow of a foolish curse made by her old enemy, Sophia Parkinson - that Madeleine would never bear a son - a curse that, against all the tenets of common sense, seemed to be coming true.

    A heroin addict living in a sordid London squat, she was already close to death when her American lover took charge, carrying off the baby Alexander to give him an affluent future and a loving home in the Midwest. But now Alex is 27 and afflicted by his lost roots and a romantic vision of England. When a business trip provides the chance to go and trace his unknown relatives, he discovers that while some British people are, indeed, very hard to get along with, others turn out to be more closely akin to him than he ever could have imagined.

    She tells no one until she meets Corky, another runaway and Alby, who owns a canal boat.

    In 1965, she returned to stand by her friend Sheila Thorogood, imprisoned for running a brothel. Sheila's Edwardian house was sadly neglected, but Queenie transformed it into a respectable guesthouse. While in Blackburn, Queenie runs into Rick. Their meeting unlocks crucial secrets from the past that threaten to tear their lives apart...

    For although Philly and Richard were on opposite sides of the mill floor, they recognised - both of them - that they were equally matched in strength of character and the capacity for overwhelming sexual passion. Thus began the forty years of conflict between the two families - the Swainbanks, cushioned by wealth but tearing each other to pieces with the violence of their emotions - and the Maguires, proud, betrayed, and led by the vibrant and magnificent Philly. A major saga of the Lancashire cotton mills - of the strong, violent, real people who both owned them, and worked in them - and of the dangerous things that love can do to families throughout the generations.

    This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.