BEGGARS AND CHOOSERS

By Catrin Collier

Synopsis

Sali Wakin marries her childhood sweetheart, Mansel, a young and successful business man. But tragedy follows tragedy and four years later Sali finds herself a penniless outcast, struggling to support herself and her son.

Sample Player

Narrator	Kate Jarman
Length	15hrs 30mins
Catalogue No.	6779
Publisher	BBC/ Chivers Audio

Other audiobooks by Catrin Collier

ALL THAT GLITTERS

Haydn Powell realises his childhood ambition when he returns to Pontypridd as a star. However, his elation is dampened when he discovers the conflicts that have developed in his family.

HEARTS OF GOLD

Bethan Powell is a trainee midwife from a proud mining family. Andrew John is a young doctor from a big house on Pontypridd Common, a very different world. When they meet they gradually fall in love, but will this be enough to overcome the prejudices of their families?

HOMECOMING

It is January 1957 and Helen's husband Jack returns from National Service. Happy to be reunited, they resume their life together. But Helen is shattered when Jack tells her that a brief fling with a sergeant's widow has left the woman pregnant, forcing her to make a courageous decision...

MAGDA'S DAUGHTER (X Rated)

Destitute after World War 2, Magda Janek hoped to build a new life for herself and her baby daughter, Helena. Now, 20 years later, Helena is beautiful, confident and has a good education - she couldn't be happier. Until a tragedy strikes that uncovers the bitter secret Magda carried to her grave. X rated, contains offensive language and explicit sex.

ONE BLUE MOON

Maud Powell and her cousin Diana had always dreamed of becoming nurses, but their hopes are shattered when Maud contracts TB - a death sentence in 1930s' Pontypridd. With pits closing, Haydn abandoning a steady job for a stage career, and their cousin Diana's secret burden, the Powell family are facing hard times.

PAST REMEMBERING

Set in the dark days of 1941 Ronnie Ronconi returns home from war-torn Italy to the close Welsh community of Pontypridd. After the loss of his beloved wife, Ronnie doesn't expect to fall in love with Diana, the wife of a friend. But can Ronnie and Diana put their own personal happiness ahead of that of an entire family?

A SILVER LINING

In Pontypridd in 1938, tongues are quick to wag when Bethan John comes back to her mining family's house with her new baby - but without her husband, or any word of explanation. Ostracised by most - even her own mother - Bethan faces a lonely struggle to survive. Then taciturn Russian Charlie, an outsider haunted by his own past, reaches out the hand of friendship, and in so doing begins to thaw his own heart...

SPOILS OF WAR

It is 1946, and as the soldiers return home not all reunions are easy. As the people of Pontypridd start to rebuild their lives, it becomes clear that, for some, the end of the war is only the beginning of other difficulties.

SUCH SWEET SORROW

Pontypridd, in 1939, blackouts and conscription shatter family life. Three women are separated, possibly forever from the men they love. Jenny Powell's husband, Eddie, abandoned her on her wedding night. Italian Tina Ronconi's sweetheart enlists, just as she and she and her entire family face internment as enemy aliens. Bethan's doctor husband, Andrew is called up, leaving her, pregnant with a toddler to care for. All they can do is wait. Then comes news of the Allies' retreat at Dunkirk and, for some life will never be the same again.

SWANSEA GIRLS

The first book in the Swansea Girls series. On Saturday nights, the Pier Ballroom in Swansea is the place to be. As the girls and boys gather, we are introduced to the characters whose lives become the core of this novel all about the growing up of working girls in Swansea in the 50s and 60s.

SWANSEA SUMMER

The second book in the Swansea Girls series. In the Swansea of the fifties, there is only one thing for a boy to do when he gets a girl 'into trouble' and that is to marry her - and quickly. Blighted by an unhappy childhood, passionately in love for the first time in his life, Jack can't wait to do 'the right thing'. But then tragedy strikes.

TIGER BAY BLUES

Edyth marries handsome curate, Peter, against her parents’ wishes. The church sends them to Tiger Bay, the multi-racial dockland of Cardiff, where poverty is rife in the years of the Depression. But Peter has a secret that threatens to destroy their marriage.