Janet MacLeod Trotter

The Tea Planter's Daughter

From shipwreck and heartbreak to treachery and war: can their love survive? Abandoned as a baby and raised in a remote lighthouse off the wild Northumberland coast, Alice Fairchild has always dreamed of adventure. When a fierce storm wrecks a ship nearby, she risks everything in an act of bravery that alters the course of her life. Aboard the doomed vessel is the handsome John Sinclair, a Scottish soldier on his way to India. The connection between them is instant, but soon fate intervenes and leaves Alice heartbroken and alone. Determined to take charge of her destiny but secretly hoping her path will cross again with John's, she too makes a new start in colonial India. Life there is colourful and exotic, but beneath the bright facade is an undercurrent of violence, and when the British invade Afghanistan, Alice is caught up in the dangerous campaign. When at last she hears news of John, she is torn between two very different lives. But will she follow her head or her heart?

In the Far Pashmina Mountains

She's gone in search of happy memories. But was her idyllic childhood in India an illusion? After the Second World War, Libby Robson leaves chilly England for India, and the childhood home where she left her heart--and her beloved father, James--fourteen years ago. At first Libby is intoxicated by India's vibrant beauty: the bustle of Calcutta, the lush tea gardens of Assam. But beneath the surface a rebellion is simmering: India is on the brink of Partition, and the days of British rule are numbered. As the owner of a tea plantation, James embodies the hated colonial regime, and Libby finds herself questioning her idealised memories--particularly when she meets the dashing freedom fighter Ghulam Khan. As Partition looms, life in India becomes precarious for Libby, James and even Ghulam. And when James reveals a shameful family secret, Libby is forced to question her past--and her future.

The Secrets of the Tea Garden

This is a heart-rending novel about one woman's fight for justice and love. Raised in the slums of Edwardian Tyneside, spirited and out-spoken Maggie Beaton joins the ranks of the suffragettes, determined to prove herself to her more wealthy comrades, in particular Alice Pearson, haughty daughter of the powerful local shipbuilder. But the consequences are devastating and Maggie is soon a fugitive, spurned by family and friends.

No Greater Love

When Sophie is suddenly orphaned at the age of six, she is taken from her parents' tea plantation, the only home she has ever known, to be raised halfway across the world in Scotland. As the years pass and her exotic childhood becomes a distant memory, adventurous Sophie finds refuge in her friendship with her kind, shy cousin, Tilly. It is no surprise when the girls follow each other to India to embark on new adventures, new lives and new loves. But the reality of 1920s India is far removed from their dream: the jungles are too humid and the breathtaking tea gardens too remote. And amongst the stifling beauty, intrigue abounds; while Sophie struggles with affairs of the heart, Tilly, alone in a difficult world, delves into the mystery of Sophie's parents' deaths. As the past begins to darken their friendship, will long-held secrets shatter everything they've ever striven for?

The Tea Planter's Bride

The Girl from the Tea Garden

Dall’autrice del bestseller La figlia del mercante di tè Numero 1 in Inghilterra Adela Robson è una studentessa che sogna di calcare il palcoscenico, in un’India in cui l’impero è prossimo alla morte. Quando scappa dalla scuola con Sam Jackman, sa che sta andando incontro a una nuova vita. Ma quello che il futuro ha in serbo per lei non è ciò che Adela immaginava. Anni dopo, a Simla, la sede estiva del governo del Raj, Adela può abbandonarsi a ogni tipo di divertimento che la società degli anni Trenta è in grado di offrirle. Ma proprio quando le sue ambizioni sembrano sul punto di diventare realtà, conosce un principe, affascinante ma viziato, e quell’incontro scatena una serie di eventi dalle conseguenze devastanti. Allo scoppio della seconda guerra mondiale, Adela è in Inghilterra, in un Paese in cui ha vissuto da bambina, ma di cui non ha ricordi. La sua vita ormai sembra senza speranza, non ha nemmeno un amore a cui aggrapparsi. E ha un terribile segreto da nascondere. Solo il coraggio e la volontà di resistere la terranno a galla in tempi tanto bui, fino a quando potrà tornare a quella che, almeno nel suo cuore, è la sua vera patria. La storia di una donna che vive sulla sua pelle l'evolversi del Paese, dal tramonto dell'impero alla seconda guerra mondiale «Da appassionata di romanzi storici, posso dire che questo ha tutte le caratteristiche che rendono grande il genere. In primo luogo, la magica cornice delle lussureggianti piantagioni di tè. È stato come visitare l’India, circondata dalla sua antica bellezza, vedere l’Himalaya e i luoghi che solo quel Paese può offrire...» «Ho amato questa storia e i suoi personaggi: forti, appassionati, leali. Una lettura che mi sento di consigliare.» Janet Macleod TrotterÈ cresciuta nel Nordest dell’Inghilterra. È autrice di sedici bestseller, inclusa la popolare Jarrow Trilogy, e di un memoir, Beatles & Chiefs, presentato alla BBC Radio Four. La Newton Compton ha pubblicato La figlia del mercante di tè, finalista al Romantic Novel Award, La promessa sposa del mercante di tè e La ragazza nel giardino del tè.

La ragazza nel giardino del tè

In Scotland in the aftermath of the First World War, nurse Esmie McBride meets handsome Captain Tom Lomax at her best friend Lydia's home. Esmie is at first concerned for Tom's shell shock, then captivated by his charm, but it's effervescent Lydia he marries, and the pair begin a new adventure together in India.

The Emerald Affair

1920: Millie escapes the bleak pit village of Craston and eviction when her mother poses as a widow to start a new life running the station hotel in Ashborough. Haunted by childhood poverty Millie sees security and happiness in the form of handsome but wayward Dan Nixon. Dan pursues his own dream of playing professional football as a means of escaping the hardship and dangers of the mines and for a while it seems their dreams will come true. But as tragedy strikes, Millie's dreams begin to unravel and when a terrible, long-kept secret is exposed, her endurance is tested to the limit. Passionate, dramatic, and spanning the 1920s to the 1950s, Chasing the Dream is a compelling story about the cost of ambition and the sacrifices we make for love, with a wonderfully warm and compassionate heroine.

Chasing the Dream

Emmie Kelso is only nine years old when she is rescued from a dingy Gateshead tenement and sent to Crawdene for her health; taken in to the vibrant, loving household of the MacRaes, a radical mining family. Blossoming into a pretty, spirited young woman, Emmie is swept off her feet by handsome miner Tom Curran, but learns too late of his possessive, violent nature. As war engulfs Europe in 1914, Tom enlists but Emmie joins the MacRaes and others in their cries for peace. Working alongside Rab, the MacRaes eldest son, their childhood devotion to each other sparks into a love too strong to hide. But when Rab is arrested as a conscientious objector and Emmie becomes an outcast in her own home, her ideals and love are put to the ultimate test, in this dramatic and heart-wrenching story. Set against the fascinating backdrop of the Great War, A CRIMSON DAWN is one of the gripping and impassioned TYNESIDE SAGAS.

A Powerful Story of Love and War

A Crimson Dawn

A Wonderfully Moving Story of Courage and Enduring Love : One of the Tyneside

1946: Jeanie Munro returns to post-war India and a husband she hasn't seen for six years. She is shaken by the discovery of long-buried family secrets and betrayal that threaten to destroy her future.

The Raj Hotel Series: Book 3

The Diamond Daughter

Lush, green, fragrant: the Indian hills of Assam are full of promise. But eighteen-year-old Clarissa Belhaven is full of worry. The family tea plantation is suffering, and so is her father, still grieving over the untimely death of his wife, while Clarissa s fragile sister, Olive, needs love and resourceful care. Beautiful and headstrong, Clarissa soon attracts the attention of young, brash Wesley Robson, a rival tea planter. Yet before his intentions become fully clear, tragedy befalls the Belhavens and the sisters are wrenched from their beloved tea garden to the industrial streets of Tyneside. A world away from the only home she has ever known, Clarissa must start again. Using all her means, she must endure not only poverty but jealousy and betrayal too. Will the reappearance of Wesley give her the link to her old life that she so desperately craves? Or will a fast-changing world and the advent of war extinguish hope forever?"

1946: A boatload of men are shipwrecked within sight of their homes on the remote Scottish island of Kulah, the wailing of the women could be heard across the sea on neighbouring Battersay. But the women are also hiding a secret...Journalist Ally Niven escapes to the Scottish island of Battersay looking for a quiet life, only to find from the outset someone is trying to scare her off. Tensions are high as people protect and harbour "Birdwoman" - a feral young woman found on the rocky shores of Kulah. Ally sets out to discover the truth and the two stories merge in a shocking climax.

The Haunting of Kulah

1905, India. Clarissa Belhaven and her younger sister Olive live a charmed life on their father's tea plantation. But when the business begins to fail, their future looks uncertain. Young rival businessman Wesley Robson offers a lifeline: he will help save the plantation in exchange for Clarrie's hand in marriage. But her father refuses and, after his death, the girls are sent to his family in Tyneside, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Amidst the dire poverty of Newcastle, Clarrie slogs away to provide for her sister, but longs to one day open her own tea room. After years of sacrifice, her dreams are finally within reach. Then Wesley Robson comes back into Clarrie's life, bringing with him a shocking revelation and the power to change her world for ever...

The Tea Planter's Lass

To escape her drunken step-father, Kate Fawcett is sent away from Tyneside and finds work at Ravensworth Castle. She soon attracts the attention of charming, headstrong Alexander Pringle Davis, a distant cousin of the Earl, who risks incurring the wrath of his family by courting lowly Kate.

A Child of Jarrow

Warm-hearted, fun-loving Jo Elliot grows up on Tyneside in the 1960's with her widowed father and older brother Colin and his friends. She has a special bond with the lively but rebellious Mark Duggan who is rejected by his violent father and ignored by his hostile brother Gordon, to whom he can never measure up. Mark longs for acceptance, but it is mature and masculine Gordon for whom Jo falls dangerously in love. Tragedy unfolds that leaves Jo outcast from her old friends. As she forges an acting career and tries to rebuild her life, war breaks out in the Falklands and both Colin and Mark are called up to fight before she can make her peace. As terrible family secrets come to light that have blighted the two families for years, Jo realises she must act to stop tragedy ruining the future. Emotional, entertaining and utterly engrossing, this magnificent saga explores the depths of love and undying loyalty. One of the Tyneside Sagas.

For Love and Glory

It's 1931 and the Depression has brought Tyneside to its knees. Young, pretty Clara Magee is devastated when her father commits suicide leaving secrets behind him and the family is forced to sell their fancy-goods shop to a German couple. Despite her mother Patience's disapproval, Clara befriends their daughter Rennie and hot-headed son Benny, but her heart lies with their dashing elder brother Frank. Patience thinks businessman Vinnie Craven, who runs the local boxing hall, a far better catch for Clara. When Frank leaves abruptly for Germany, Vinnie single-mindedly pursues the vivacious Clara, determined to make her his wife. Tempted by the glamorous life-style Vinnie is offering and security for her family, Clara buries her feelings for Frank. But she hadn't bargained for Vinnie's ruthless nature or growing fascination for Mosley's Fascist Party. Yet the greatest shock is still to come ... Set against the momentous backdrop of rising fascism in the 1930s, A Handful of Stars is an enthralling story of poverty, passion and survival with a captivating young heroine.

A Handful of Stars

When Carol Shannon, the unruly daughter of Brassbank's pit manager, falls for young miner, Mick Todd, their defiant relationship causes a storm in the close-knit mining village. For the bitterness between their families runs as deep as the coal seams that are Brassbank's lifeblood. But the hardest battles are still to come for rebellious Carol. With 1984 dawns the year long Miner's Strike that divides the nation and sets communities at war. Hardship not only threatens Brassbank's survival, but pushes Carol and Mick's passionate union to breaking point, leaving tragedy in its wake. Set against the fascinatingly vivid backdrop of a momentous time, Never Stand Alone is an impassioned novel of a woman's fight for her community, her family and the man she loves.

Never Stand Alone

Emmie Kelso, rescued from a dingy Gateshead tenement and raised by the warm-hearted MacRaes, has grown into an intelligent, spirited young woman. She is swept off her feet by handsome Tom Curran, but it is only after their wedding that his violent nature is revealed. As war engulfs Europe in 1914, the community divides. Tom enlists, but Emmie defies her husband and joins those campaigning for peace. Among her fellow protesters is Rab, the MacRae's eldest son, and their childhood devotion to each other sparks into a love too strong to hide. But there's trouble ahead. Rab, arrested as a 'conchie', faces the ultimate penalty, then a brutalised Tom returns home. The war may be drawing to an end, but Emmie's fight for happiness is only just beginning...

Janet MacLeod Trotter

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