Margaret Bacon

Judith and Alice are lifelong friends despite their very different lifestyles. But when Judith's father dies she returns home to the Yorkshire Dales and Alice, who has never left, for the help and support she needs. Some explicit sexual content and violence.

When her first love dies in the Great War, Eglantine Thorpe resigns herself to life as an unmarried teacher. She turns down a later proposal of marriage when she realises that she cannot sacrifice her independence. In WWII a great niece becomes the daughter she never had. This is the portrait of a woman whose struggles and sacrifices mirror the times she lives in.

Flora's mother had always seen her as an encumbrance, sending her away to school and palming her off for the school holidays. Flora determined that if she married her family would come first. Twenty years on was it worth it?

A varied collection of short stories; some are funny, some more serious but they are all about real people in real situations, so the reader can identify with them. In some a cheat or a bully gets their comeuppance which is always very satisfactory for both writer and reader.