OUR WRITERS MEAN BUSINESS 
Polly Longden’s china-doll looks belie a strong and fiery personality. When typhoid strikes her home city of Lincoln, she needs every ounce of that strength in order to cope.
With the death of her mother, thirteen-year-old Polly has to give up her ambition of becoming a teacher to care for her family. When their father, too, falls victim to the typhoid, his only hope is to go to hospital, leaving Polly to cope alone.
Thankfully she has the support of her neighbours: Bertha Halliday and her son, Leo, a young policeman. Through all the hardships that follow, Polly is sustained by her dream of becoming Leo’s wife. But her father’s hot temper leads him to the wrong side of the law during the railway riots of 1911, forcing Leo to take drastic action that Polly will surely never be able to forgive and forget . . .
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
| Turkey | Yediveren |
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Charlotte is an only child, reared by a brutal father who cannot forgive her for not being the son he desires. Loved by most that she meets, Charlotte has a gift for friendship, and it is her work as a Sunday School teacher that gives her hope – and an escape from home.
When Charlotte meets Miles Thornton, she is instantly drawn to him. He is new to the area and a widower, with three lovely young sons to look after but the one thing he has longed for is a daughter. As they grow to understand one another, it seems that Miles and Charlotte have more in common that meets the eye…
Sweeping from the early 1920s through to the end of World War II, SONS AND DAUGHTERS is a compelling, traditional saga set against the Lincolnshire landscape that Margaret Dickinson portrays so well.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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When Florrie Maltby defies her father by refusing to marry Gervase Richards, she sets off a chain of events that will alter her life. Instead she goes to London and becomes involved with the suffragette movement.
She's imprisoned for her militant actions, and goes on hunger strike. With her health deteriorating, there is one person who can save her - Gervase.
After a brief stay in the countryside to recuperate, Florrie returns to London to continue her fight for women's rights. Only the outbreak of the Great War puts a halt to her activities. It is when James, her younger brother, is shamed by their father into volunteering, that Florrie enlists as a nurse and is sent to the Front.
Amidst the fear and horror of the hospital close to the trenches, she finds love. But when her beloved brother is accused of desertion, help comes from a very unexpected source.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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Kathy Burton longs to escape the drudgery of her life as an unpaid labourer on her father's farm. With only the local church choir and the occasional dance at the village hall for amusement, she yearns for the bright lights.
Spurning Morry Robinson's proposal of marriage, Kathy goes to live in the city with his aunt, Jemima Robinson. In turn, Jemima finds employment for Kathy in a department store, but is anxious when Kathy is captivated by the sophisticated and handsome floor manager, Tony Kendall. 'He has a reputation,' the outspoken Jemima warns her. 'He's had more girl friends than I've got shoes in my closet.'
But Kathy has fallen deeply and irrevocably in love and, even when the country is plunged into war, she can see no obstacle to their future. But she has reckoned without the devious mind of Tony's invalid mother, Beatrice Kendall. 'You'll never marry my son,' she vows. 'I'll see to that.'
Determined that the possessive woman won't win, Kathy plans her wedding, but the day is ruined and Tony is called up before another date can be arranged. Feeling deserted, Kathy is forced to face yet further heartache and shame alone.
At last, she finds solace in joining a concert party entertaining service men and woman and war workers. But behind the songs and the smiles, her heart is breaking...
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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Fleur Bosley didn't believe in love at first sight, at least not until she bumped into Robbie Rodwell on a railway station in the blackout of wartime Britain.
Posted to a newly-built Lincolnshire airfield, Robbie as a wireless operator on bombers and Fleur as a R/T operator in the watch office, their only escape is to the little cottage in the nearby village where Fleur is billeted with another WAAF, Ruth. The two girls become good friends, but Ruth, already hurt by the loss of one of the pilots, does not approve of wartime romances. And Ruth is not the only one to disapprove. When Fleur's mother hears Robbie's name she becomes hysterical and bans him from her home.
The young couple are determined to grab their happiness where they can, but is it a kind fate or a cruel one that has brought them together when secrets from the past threaten their future?
Away from their families, there is fun and laughter, the aircrews determined to make the most of every day, every minute, but whenever they fly off into the night on a bombing raid, Fleur must keep watch until the early hours praying that Robbie's plane comes back ...
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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*LONG LISTED FOR THE 2007 ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR*
Hannah Francis has been forced to leave her beloved mother and the life she knows in the silk mill town of Macclesfield, and is set to become an apprentice at a cotton mill in the Derbyshire dales.
It is a cruel blow for such a young girl, but her three travelling companions are even younger than she is, and Hannah is determined to keep their spirits up and remain in good cheer. Once she is settled in the mill, Hannah discovers that the hours of work are long, and the daily routine is dangerous, arduous and harsh, but her bright singing and capacity for joy lighten the load for everyone.
Hannah soon becomes a favourite with the other mill workers. Friendships are forged and an innocent love starts to blossom. But, can such a fragile love survive cruel reality? It is not long before she attracts the eye of Edmund Critchlow, the man who owns them all, body and soul - the man from whom no pretty mill girl is safe.
Times are hard in the cotton industry as civil war rages across America affecting even the mill owner and the lives of all his workers.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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A spirited novel of love and revenge from a hugely popular author Meg Kirkland fears her impudent tongue has caused her father's dismissal from his job and forced her whole family from their home on Middleditch Farm. Worse still, her father abandons them outside the workhouse, leaving Meg to care for her devastated mother, Sarah, and little brother as tragedy continues to haunt the family.
Isaac Pendleton, Master of the workhouse, rules the lives of all those within its walls but when Sarah becomes his latest mistress, Meg is disgusted. Her loyal friend, Jake, born and bred in the workhouse, has a maturity and understanding beyond his years.
Yet it is Meg's fiery independence that encourages Jake to leave the workhouse and seek employment on Middleditch Farm. His future is assured, but who will take care of Meg? The pretty, vivacious girl, once so innocent, becomes a calculating and manipulative young woman who will stop at nothing to get her own way even if it means betraying those she has loved.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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A young girl stands alone in the cobbled market place of a small Lincolnshire town, bedraggled, soaked through and very afraid. Who is she? Where has she come from and from whom is she running away? No one knows or cares.
Only kindly farmer, Eddie Appleyard, recognises something in the girl that touches his heart. In a drunken haze and scarcely realising what he is doing, Eddie takes her home even though his wife is a tyrant, who will believe the worst. ‘Is this your fancy piece?’ Bertha accuses and turns Anna out into the cold, wet night. Eddie hides the girl in the hayloft and, later, in a tumbledown shepherd’s cottage that becomes her new home.
Anna’s arrival will change their lives; Eddie’s, Bertha’s and even that of their young son, Tony, torn between his warring parents and the mysterious stranger. It will take years for the secrets of Anna’s former life to be revealed, but Bertha bides her time and awaits her moment, little realising the tragedy her vengeance will unleash.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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THE COMPELLING SEQUEL TO THE TOP-SELLING LINCOLNSHIRE SAGA TANGLED THREADS
It is 1914. As WW1 begins, Eveleen Hardcastle, now in her early thirties, is left to manage the factory while her husband, Richard, fights for his country.
Eveleen’s mother, Mary, has found happiness with husband Josh. Her granddaughter, Bridie, lives at home still but has a spirited will which her mother finds hard to control. Secretly besotted with Andrew, her godfather, Bridie finds a rewarding vocation as a nurse, and gains a maturity beyond her years…
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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For Eveleen Hardcastle life gets no better than growing up on Pear Tree Farm in the Lincolnshire countryside. Her family works hard for the Dunsmore Estate and Eveleen finds it impossible to resist the charms of their employer’s son, Stephen Dunsmore. But Jimmy, ever quick to antagonise, ensures that his sister’s clandestine trysts do not remain so for long.
Mary Hardcastle reacts to the news of her daughter’s affair with a shocking ferocity which seems to be borne more of bitterness than maternal protectiveness. But what is it that fuels Mary’s resentment towards her daughter? Unable to ignore her own feelings, Eveleen continues to meet Stephen in secret. But deception has cruel price to pay when her beloved father is found dead from a heart attack. And worse yet, Stephen, far from providing Eveleen with the comfort she craves, deserts her in her hour of need and callously evicts the Hardcastles from the farm.
Suddenly homeless, Eveleen is left to take the family reins and she fights to make a new life for her family in Nottinghamshire. And then she makes a stunning discovery about her mother’s past which changes all their lives for ever...
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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For a twelve-year old Mary Ann Clark’s life has always been tough. The pretty daughter of a wife-beating drunk, it is no surprise that she has grown up afraid of her own shadow. That is until 'Battling Bessie Ruddick' takes the young girl under her wing and into the heart of her bustling family.
Growing into an attractive young woman, Mary Ann yearns to be loved and when her affection for Bessie’s son, Dan, is finally returned, she becomes a skipper’s wife. But the arduous life aboard ship is clearly not for her and only the arrival of a daughter, Lizzie, seems to hold the marriage together. Yet, tragically, the family is torn apart when Mary Ann is seduced by the promise of a happier life.
Although bewildered by her mother’s disappearance, it is now up to Lizzie to help her father. For she, unlike Mary Ann, has inherited Dan’s love of the river. But then, disturbingly, her life starts to follow the same pattern as her mother’s...
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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Abandoned outside an orphanage as a newborn baby, spirited, Maddie March has had to fight her way through life. So when she finds a home at Few Farm with Frank Brackenbury and his household, she welcomes the chance of a fresh start with open arms.
Work on the farm is hard, but believing herself truly loved for the first time in her young life by the farmer’s son Michael. Even the animosity of the housekeeper Mrs Trowbridge cannot mar Maddie’s newfound happiness. Determined to make the best of the hostile atmosphere, she throws herself into the gruelling routine with characteristic enthusiasm.
1947 brings a harsh winter, sweeping devastation over the farm and threatening the Brackenbury’s livelihood. All seems lost until Maddie has an idea that might save them all from poverty. Ridiculed at first, her plan soon takes root and flourished, much to the delight of Frank and Michael, and the further annoyance of Mrs. Trowbridge.
But her good fortune soon dwindles when she discovers she is pregnant – and this time Maddie can find no way around the problem.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
| Slovakia/td> | Arkus |
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Flame-haired Jeannie Buchanan has spent all her life in the shadow of the dark North Sea. Working with freezing fingers to gut the precious herring, she follows her fleet south, travelling far away from her Scottish home.
When her beloved father’s trawler goes missing, Jeannie must face up to life on her own. But her fiery temper and fierce independence attract powerful and devious enemies.
By standing up to the Hayes-Gorton family, she could be threatening the future of those she cares for the most. By denying a man prepared to sacrifice all his privileges for a chance to offer his devotion she could be facing years of unhappiness. Amidst the great social upheavals of the inter-war years, Jeannie must search again for the real love she has always denied herself.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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Kitty Clegg has long accepted the hard work and long hours in her job as a lowly kitchen maid at the Manor Farm. Now sixteen, her chores are made all the lighter with the realisation that she is falling in love ...
Handsome, dark curled Jack Thorndyke has more than once held her adoring gaze across the scullery yard. Now as he prepares his gleaming threshing machine to cut the last of the golden Lincolnshire corn, he finally asks Kitty to be his chosen Harvest Nell. Carried away by her excitement, Kitty fails to heed the warnings whispered into her ear. Handsome Jack is far from the marrying kind. Worse still, his playful charm has attracted another - a young woman far above his station. Will Kitty's dreams be scattered like chaff on the wind?
Burying her disappointment, she takes up an important new position in the household. But, surrounded by echoes from the past, Kitty finds herself unable to abandon a very special kind of love: a love which will bring both heartache and joy to the Manor in the turbulent decades to come...
Set in the epic years before and after the First World War, Margaret Dickinson's new novel of Lincolnshire life is a spellbinding story of courage, loyalty and love.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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Emma has waited three long years to see the man she loves come safely home from the horror of the trenches, but now her father's mysterious and bitter feud with Jamie Metcalfe's family threatens everything she has dreamed of. Harry Forrest's fury rings in her ears, together with his constant taunt that nobody would want to marry her for any other reason than to get their hands on his mill.
Emma holds Jamie's love in her heart and knows that her father is wrong. Or is he? For when the gaunt and barely recognisable hero returns to the Lincolnshire village, the boy who swore he would marry her has vanished forever. Knowing that the man she loves has turned his back, and that her father will go to his grave wishing she were a boy, Emma clings resolutely to the memory of her beloved grandfather, Charlie, and his hopes for the mill he built with his own hands.
Somehow, in spite of all her father's scheming, and the disastrous marriage she finds herself in as a result, she will make sure that the mill has a future - with a Forrest at the helm.
And the one person who can help her do this is Jamie's brother and Emma's best friend, William.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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The final book in the Fleethaven trilogy tells the story of Kate's daughter Ella. When she arrives at Brumby Farm, 10 year old Ella begins a battle to win the affection of her grandmother Esther. But the relationship is fiery from the word go. Despite the adoration of her grandfather and a growing friendship with Rob Eland, Ella is unable to come to terms with Esther's coldness, and goes in search of her father. With his love she grows into a attractive young woman, but when her grandfather dies Ella returns to Brumby Farm to Esther's open arms and to lasting happiness with Rob.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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"Packed with intrigue, suspense, humour and romance” - The Grantham Journal
Sow the Seed tells the story of Esther's daughter Kate. The family's dark secrets and her forbidden love for Danny Eland force Kate to leave Brumby Farm and join the WRAF. In the chaos and destruction of the war years Kate will witness many things. As well as all the pain, suffering and loss, she will experience the first taste of a love that finally allows her to leave her past behind.....
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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"Unputdownable"- BBC Radio Lincolnshire
In this beautifully written novel Esther Everett's longing for a place of her own results in her marriage to Matthew Hilton, a man she does not love. Although this union ensures she can stay on at her beloved Brumby Farm, it is a decision which will cause heartache down the years. A remarkable insight into the plight of a woman trapped in a loveless marriage.
"Page turning"- Lincolnshire Life
"A hugely enjoyable book"- Lincoln Standard
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Pan Macmillan |
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