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Everyone around Champion Street market loves Aunty Dot's homemade sweets and chocolates. And everyone loves Aunty Dot: the plump, smiling woman has provided a loving home for many a troubled child.
Lizzie Pringle would do anything for her foster mother - even taking on local sweet manufacturer and bully, Cedric Finch. That is, until she falls for his son, Charlie ...Dena can't believe that Barry Holmes would hurt her beloved daughter: he's been like a favourite uncle to the little girl. But there's no smoke without fire.
And they're all soon to discover that chocolate can be bitter, as well as sweet ...
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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Tales from Champion Street Market. Working on her busy flower stall in Champion Street Market, Betty has lots of opportunities to observe her customers, and to speculate on their lives. Sam regularly buys bouquets for his wife, Judy, so why does she always look so worn out and miserable? Leo comes every week for flowers for his mother, but has never bought so much as a rosebud for his elegant wife. Of course, Betty's own husband went off long ago, so is it any wonder if she and her daughter, Lynda, have such a dim view of men. If only all marriages could be happy ...That'll be the day!
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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In 1950s Manchester, folk are just emerging from the shadow of the war. Money is still tight, and the bustling market is a source of tempting bargains – as well as the local gossip. Dena loves her Saturday job at the market café, and her ready smile makes her a universal favourite.
A bit too popular for Belle Garside’s liking: the café owner has fancier ambitions for her son than a mere waitress. Then Dena falls pregnant and everyone's plans change . . .
'A consummate storyteller who delivers the perfect blend of drama, romance and historical detail.'
Historical Novels Review
'Freda Lightfoot's talent for creating believable characters makes this a page-turning read.'
Newcastle Evening Chronicle
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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Can she ever find happiness? The Great War is over and Kate is ready to welcome back Eliot with open arms. But her husband is a changed man. Kate has become used to her independence, and to running the shoe factory; and Eliot's return creates tensions both at work and at home, particularly with Kate's son, Callum.
It tears Kate apart to see such strife between the two men she loves most. And her sister-in-law seems determined to stir up the animosity in order to benefit her own son.
But when tragedy strikes, Kate cannot imagine just how much trouble Lucy's ambition can cause...Freda Lightfoot first introduced Kate O'Connor in her delightful saga, "The Girl from Poorhouse Lane". In resuming Kate's story, she gives us a vivid picture of the radical changes on society affected by the First World War.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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Overpaid, oversexed and over here...It might be a friendly invasion, but when hundreds of US Marines arrive at the quiet Cornish town in the summer of 1943, they turn several lives upside down. Bette Tredinnick, footloose and fancy free, embarks on a whirlwind romance with a handsome GI.
Her sister, Sarah, is already married, but Hugh's jealous attempts to keep her out of temptation's reach can't prevent Sarah falling for officer Charles Denham. By the time the war is won, both sisters have lost their hearts...
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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Where there's muck there's brass.
Dolly Tomkins knows what it's like to live hand to mouth. In the mean streets of 1920s Salford, the only one making a decent living is the talleyman – and Nifty Jack has a moneybag where his heart should be. Dolly's mam is in hock up to her ears, but when Jack offers to wipe the slate clean in return for Dolly's favours, the girl just can't bring herself to do it.
Instead, she takes him on at his own game, and in the process is in danger of losing the love of her life.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| Uk & Commonwealth | Coronet |
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The slums of Poor House Lane are no place to bring up a child, and since the death of her husband, Kate has struggled to feed her beloved baby son, relying on hand-outs and charity. So when the wealthy, childless Tyson’s offer to adopt Callum, and employ Kate as his nursemaid, she feels compelled to accept.
To be so close to her son, yet no longer be his mother, is bittersweet. But Kate is not prepared for the jealousy the new arrangement provokes in Eliot Tyson’s brother, Charles, who sees Callum as a direct threat to his inheritance. But then events take an unexpected turn and Kate finds herself back in Poor House Lane with some heartrending decisions to be made, not least how to find her missing son.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Coronet |
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They called it the Christmas Blitz, but there are no festivities for Jess, locked in the cellar by her feckless, tarty mother. And when Lizzie is imprisoned for shoplifting, Jess is sent to live with her uncle, a bullying black marketeer, who treats her like a slave.
Jess's natural musical talent offers an escape route - and the chance for love. But Uncle Bernie has never forgiven his niece for refusing to join his illegal schemes, and threatens to deprive Jess of her hard-won independence.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Coronet |
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The grand opening of the Manchester Ship Canal is a big day for Ruby McBride and her young sister and brother. Its glories quickly fade when, before the day is out, they have been left at Ignatius House, in the not-so-tender care of the nuns. Ruby, a rebel at heart, is always on the wrong side of authority. Her chief concern is to keep her promise to take acre of pearl and Billy but when she is sixteen, the Board of guardians force her into marriage and she has to abandon her siblings, vowing she will reunite the family when she can.
Ruby is convinced that her new husband is a con man and life on his barge is not what she expects. She is furious at being robbed of the chance to be with her childhood sweetheart, Kit Jarvis, and resists Bart’s advances until an unexpected passion overtakes them. Only when Kit comes back into her life and jealousy between the two men causes events to run out of control does Ruby realise which one she truly loves. But it takes the Great War for her to fulfil that childhood promise and not in the expected way.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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It's 1942 and three young women join the Women's Timber Corps, eager to do their bit for the war effort. Buxom and bouncy, red-headed Lou is newly married and sees her training in Cornwall as a way of staying near her sailor husband. Petite, blonde Gracie is making a break from her quarrelling, interfering parents and Rosie wants to escape from her bully of a brother. Life as new recruits is a bit of a shock, but they are keen to stay together in their next posting: the Lake District.
Emotions are always more intense in wartime, and Rosie is swept off her feet by an American GI. Her dream of returning to the States as his wife is cruelly shattered when he tells her he's married already. Gracie falls in love with a German POW, earning the hatred of villagers and colleagues alike. And Lou has to deal with the news that her husband is missing in action.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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Katherine, Charlotte and Esme – three girls seeking escape. Each of them is captivated by the idea of a travelling theatre. Each is pretending to be someone she is not. All are in love with the same man.
Fleeing a marriage her ambitious mother has arranged for her, Katherine Terry throws herself into an acting career. But a scandal threatens to wreck her own life and the happiness of those she loves.
Charlotte Gilpin can have any man she wants, and she wants Archie – whoever is standing in her way.
The Travelling Players offer Esme Bield a striking contract to the life of placid duty she has known as a parson’s daughter. But can the quiet trusting girl cope with the consequences?
Against the theatrical backdrop of the Lake District a real life drama is played out – one that threatens to destroy the very dream that brought the three girls together, and the close friendship they once enjoyed.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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“ Polly is made of stern stuff…and the tale of her courage and grit against the backdrop of a Northern city in the grip of depression makes for a powerful narrative.”
Newcastle Evening Chronicle
World War II may be over but Polly Pride feels as though the fighting has moved to her own home. Her son, Benny, is mixed up with some very shady characters and trying to pull the wool over his mother’s eyes about it. Daughter Lucy is carrying on with a fancy man behind her husband’s back and leaving her children to run riot. And Charlie, Polly’s beloved husband, is battling ill health and doesn’t want her interfering.
Polly sees she risks losing all she’s worked so hard to achieve, but refuses to go back to Ancoats and a life of grinding poverty. And she won’t stand by and watch her family tear itself to pieces….
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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Polly Pride feels she is luckier than many who live in the Ancoats area of Manchester. She has a loving husband, two healthy children, a place of their own and a regular wage coming in. But it is the early 1920s, unrest is in the air and when her husband Matthew loses his job, life starts to change for Polly. She decides that she must do her bit in order to keep her family from starvation and turns her home into a small shop selling second-hand rugs and carpets.
When her husband is killed, Polly and her children are forced to live with her husband's brother, Josh, a strict Primitive Methodist and the rest of Matt's family. Relations quickly become strained but when Josh starts to take out his petty jealousies on her children and they too are threatened, Polly decides to take drastic action. She turns him out of the house only to realise that Joshua Pride is not a man to take no for an answer. She has to prove she is equally determined to win.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Hodder & Stoughton |
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