Charlotte Betts

1665: Susannah Leyton has grown up behind the counter of her father's apothecary shop in bustling Fleet Street. But Susannah is dealt a shocking blow when her widowed father marries again, and her new stepmother seems determined to remove her from the apothecary shop for good.

After her French father and English mother are brutally murdered, bluestocking Madeleine Moreau travels to France to find the family she didn't know existed. When France declares war on England in 1792, Madeleine is trapped, but enigmatic Comte Etienne d'Aubery comes to the rescue when he offers her shelter in his home, Chateau Mirabelle.

Italy, 1819. Emilia Barton and her mother Sarah live a nomadic existence, travelling from town to town as itinerant dressmakers to escape their past. When they settle in the idyllic coastal town of Pesaro, Emilia desperately hopes that, this time, they have found a permanent home. But when Sarah is brutally attacked by an unknown assailant, a deathbed confession turns Emilia's world upside down...

1902. Spindrift House, Cornwall.

Edith Fairchild, deserted by her feckless husband Benedict eight years before, has established the thriving Spindrift artists' community by the sea and found deep and lasting love with Pascal. They have accepted that they cannot marry, but when Benedict returns unexpectedly to Spindrift House, all Edith and Pascal's secret hopes and dreams of a joyous life together are overturned.

Benedict's arrival shatters the peaceful and creative atmosphere of the close-knit community. When Edith will not allow him back into her bed, the conflict escalates and he sets in motion a chain of tragic events that reverberate down the years and threatens the happiness of the community forever...

Book 2 in the Spindrift trilogy.

1813. Venetia Lovell lives in Kent with her frivolous mother and idle younger brother. Her father frequently travels away from home, leaving his sensible daughter to look after the family. But when a handsome stranger arrives bringing terrible news, Venetia's world is turned upside-down and the family have no option but to move to London, to the House in Quill Court and begin a new life.

1914 Spindrift House, Cornwall.

Edith Fairchild's good-for-nothing husband, Benedict, deserted her when their children were babies. Now the children are almost adult, Edith and Pascal, her faithful lover of two decades, are planning to leave their beloved Spindrift artists' community and finally be together.

But an explosive encounter between Benedict and Pascal forces old secrets into the light, causing rifts in the happiness and security of the community. Then an assassin's bullet fired in faraway Sarajevo sets in motion a chain of events that changes everything.

Under the shadow of war, the community struggles to eke out a living. The younger generation enlist or volunteer to support the war effort, facing dangers that seemed unimaginable in the golden summer of 1914.

When it's all over, will the Spindrift community survive an unexpected threat? And will Edith and Pascal ever be able to fulfil their dream?

Book 3 in the Spindrift trilogy.

1688: Beth Ambrose has led a sheltered life in her family home on the outskirts of London; a place where her parents provide a sanctuary for melancholic souls. But as political tensions begin to rise in the capital, Noah Leyton arrives in the middle of the night with a proposition that turns Beth's world upside down.

1666. Newly married to a wealthy spice merchant, Kate Finche believes all her dreams of a happy family life are just around the corner until the Great Fire rages through London...