THE DAUGHTERS OF IRONBRIDGE

A MOTHER'S WAR

North Yorkshire, September 1939. Rosina Calvert-Lazenby, the only surviving member of her family and widowed by forty-four, has lived at Raven Hall all her life. With war approaching, Rosina must be strong for her daughters, five confident young women who are thick as thieves. When the RAF come to stay at Raven Hall, Rosina finds herself intrigued by their charismatic, albeit young, officer. But is there time for love with the war looming and her eldest daughter leaving home? Grace Calvert-Lazenby, twenty-one years old and newly graduated from Oxford, is determined to live a fuller life. Leaving behind her mother and sisters at home, she joins the Women's Royal Naval Service. Trading the safety and familiarity of Raven Hall for exhausting drills, difficult training and conflicting acts of secrecy will not be easy. But Grace knows that everyone has a part to play in the war and she is ready for a brave new adventure. With so much on the line, Rosina and Grace must learn how to push themselves and have the courage to lead those around them into the unknown.

THE ORPHAN OF IRONBRIDGE

Hettie Jones has grown up in Ironbridge. Since her mother's death, she has been brought up by the Malone family, who treat her as one of their own. She works as a pit girl at the local coal mine, alongside her childhood playfellow, Evan but when Queenie King takes a fancy to her, Hettie's life is transformed. Trained first as a lady's maid, and then hurtled into a world of luxury and gentility, she finds her new position difficult to reconcile with her past life. And with Queenie's daughter-in-law scheming against her, Hettie's situation becomes dire.

THE SECRETS OF IRONBRIDGE

1850s Shropshire. Returning to her mother's birthplace, Beatrice Ashford encounters a complex family she barely knows. Her great-grandmother Queenie adores her, but the privileged social position of Beatrice's family as masters of the local brickworks begins to make her uncomfortable. And then she meets Owen Malone: handsome, different - and from a class beneath her own. They fall for each other fast, but an old family feud and growing industrial unrest threatens to drive them apart. Can they overcome their different backgrounds? And can Beatrice make amends for her family's past?