Margaret Hodgson

Her father is a favoured courtier of James 1, yet her grandmother is a devout Catholic, causing Isabel Stanhope to lead a double life. Torn between her duty to her father and her own desperate longings, Isabel leaves Jacobean London and travels to war torn Europe.

Abandoned by her husband, Ellen struggles to make ends meet. Having married once for love, she is determined that the second time it will be for money.

Sequel to: 'The Sugar House' (1351); When Clara Batchelor’s brief marriage to Archie ends she returns to her parents’ home, hoping for comfort and support. She finds the Catholic household oppressive, however, and longs to escape to the outside world, but when she begins a passionate affair her fragile identity cracks.

When their only child is killed in a car accident caused by an old friend, Megan and Rex Van Dorn can't face their lives anymore. They decide to pursue an old dream, and sail to wherever the mood, and the weather, took them., but can they ever leave the past behind.

In 1812 Dartmoor Prison is dangerously overcrowded with French and American prisoners. For one of them, Pilgrim Penn, only an illicit love makes this brutal captivity bearable.

It was a case that the newspapers couldn't let die, as it consisted of sex, sport, romance and supernatural, as well as historical romance. From investigating the handsome ghost of the 17th Century Cavalier Poe, Jemima Shore finds herself instead investigating murder.

In the summer of 1939 the residents of the village of Bexham prepare for war. Four young women are determined to play an active part and they join the women of the Sussex port. Their world is changed irrevocably, yet the chestnut tree flourishes.

Nest and Mina still live at Ottercombe, their beautiful childhood home in Devon, and take great delight in visits from their nieces and nephews. When their frail older sister comes for a lengthy stay, memories of their past start to revisit them.

The dramatic account of an English woman's work with a group of resistance fighters in World War 2;

A young London lawyer is sent to India to take the case for the defence when a statue of the God Shiva goes missing. There he falls in love with the elusive Artemis.

Joshua Gilfoyle decides the two things he wants from life before he dies are to find his lost son and to commission an artist to produce an angel for Foxbarton church. Unfortunately Julia, the artist he's employed, doesn't believe in angels - and although she's desperate for the commission, she's frightened her artistic inspiration has run dry.

Short stories offering an insight into the failures of communication and expectations between men and women.

'Terts' Bradley shuns both his father's commercial life and his mother's aristocratic world for the sake of photography. Many years later Jolene decides to research 'Terts', her professional hero.

When Harriet’s foster sister disappears she is left alone to guide a coach tour of locations for a TV detective series. She begins to re-examine her childhood and family, and questions her feelings for the TV-star guest of honour.

In 1297 Margaret Kerr is living in Edinburgh and searching for her long-absent husband, Roger. A murder on the Kerr property brings the wrath of the English down on Margaret and her uncle. The sudden re-appearance of Roger gives Margaret the opportunity to escape Edinburgh, but what is his motive for coming back to her?

Aunt Hanna Frankenstein has very definite ideas about the best way to bring up a monster.

The members of a creative writing group all want to keep their lives private, yet all have something they want to escape from. As their writing skills and their friendships develop they realise that a little openness is not a bad thing.

The honeybee and its social organisation have always fascinated humans as well as providing food. Here is an examination of all the strange beliefs that humans have held about bees throughout history.

Christina Nordohl married a wealthy man with two sons, but after his death she inherits land, money and a priceless manuscript which could destroy her happiness.

Dr Paul Higgins and his wife Bett have allowed a bitter gulf to grow between them. Loyally supporting them both is cousin Jenny but she must also find some happiness for herself.

In 1900 the paths of three young women, Leonie, Dorinda and Mercy, cross and all their lives are affected. They support each other as they strive to be independent at a time when this is could lead to ostracism and even tragedy.

In this fascinating work of fiction the author takes moments from her own life and looks at how things might have developed otherwise. What if she had become pregnant at eighteen, married someone else or taken a different career?

Arriving at their holiday chateau, Roger and his family find it to be in a decrepit state. The owner is unfriendly and unhelpful, so Roger sets out to befriend his daughter, the enigmatic Melusine.

From the outside, 5 Brocklehurst Grove looks like an ordinary house - the windows are always clean, and the garden well tended. And from the inside, to hear the voices of the inhabitants, the Mennym family, you would think they were a perfectly ordinary family, too. But you'd be wrong, for the Mennyms are far from ordinary.

The whole family shares an astonishing secret behind which it's hidden for forty years; a secret to which nobody has ever come close... until perhaps, now. When an airmail letter from Australia comes through the letterbox of number 5, its contents are enough to plunge the whole family into fear that now, for the first time, the mystery surrounding it is about to be exposed...

14th Century England is a cruel and dangerous place. Brat doesn't know her real name or age, but her life as a homeless orphan changes when she becomes a helper to the midwife.

Set in World War Two, this is the story of the close knit community of April Grove, Portsmouth.  Book 4 of series.

In 1863, the American Civil War is raging. Still in its early years, the Jalna estate seems far away from the despair and destruction, and life is as peaceful as usual... until the Sinclairs come to visit. As the burden these distant cousins bring grows, the Whiteoaks begin to suspect that the Sinclairs have a deep and dangerous secret. Book 2 of series.

Defying the iron will of his grandmother Ben Logan leaves Ireland for Yorkshire where he meets Lesley, a social worker; Anagram, a pedigree horse, and Meg, a border collie. Each will change his life bringing love, tragedy and hope.

Crisis in a Victorian family unites them and yet turns them against each other.   Book 3 of series.

In 1912 gifted Bessie Bawtry uses her place at Cambridge as a way to escape Breaseborough, a Yorkshire mining town. Her granddaughter visits the town nearly a century later and questions whether she has travelled further in life than her Yorkshire kin!

This is the tale of a pair of young scholars investigating the lives of two Victorian poets. Following a trail of letters, journals and poems they uncover a web of passion, deceit and tragedy, and their quest becomes a battle against time. Booker Prize Winner 1990.

The social minuet of the society of Barsetshire in the 1940's produces a stream of matrimonial fodder, both young and not-so-young.

Born in Bournemouth in the 1920s, Gwen Arnold takes us from her early years in the seaside town to her wartime role as a WAAF radar operator at one of the top-secret radar bases guarding British shores during World War Two.

This portrayal of England's hero, Richard the Lionheart (1157-99), is an evocation of life in the 12th century in England, France and Outremer.

Penelope Featherington had known , and secretly adored, her friend's brother for years. Thinking she knows everything about him she is surprised when she discovers his deepest secret, but Penelope has secrets of her own, and is taking every care that they should not be found out!

Book 4 in the Bridgerton series.

Mariella and her cousin Rosa are completely different in character although facially you would believe them to be sisters. This story tells of their journeys through the Crimea and relationships. One in particular finds her journey very rewarding. Richard & Judy Bookclub