Women of Courage

Three quality historical novels, all featuring women who displayed extraordinary courage in difficult, dangerous situations. In Cat & Mouse, British suffragette Sarah Becket faces prison for demonstrating for women's right to vote. When her sister Deborah comes to rescue her, the sisters expose a serious sexual scandal at the heart of the British political establishment, which Sarah's husband, Jonathan, is determined to keep secret at all costs. It is 1914, and the threat of the Great War rumbles closer. Five years later, in The Blood Upon the Rose, the young Irish aristocrat and medical student, Catherine O'Connell-Gort , fights for an end to British rule in Ireland. She is in love with a young IRA Volunteer, but her father, a senior officer in British military intelligence, insists that she marry a scarred war veteran, a dangerous assassin on a secret mission to murder the IRA leader Michael Collins. What secrets can she keep, and who will she betray - her family or her lover, her country or her class? And what results will flow from her dreadful decisions? In The Monmouth Summer, young Ann Carter is torn by equally agonizing choices. In 1685 the Puritan people of her Devon village rise up in revolt in support of the Duke of Monmouth against the Catholic king of England, James II. They are hugely determined, but poorly armed and led. Ann's father, Adam, fears if he dies he will leave his wife and daughters destitute, unless Ann marries her solid, dependable childhood sweetheart, Tom Goodchild. But although Ann loves her father, she is dazzled by the rich Royalist officer, Robert Pole. She knows this love is sinful, but when her father is captured and sentenced to death, she can think of only way to save him ... Each book is based on careful research. These three women - Sarah Becket, Catherine O'Connell-Gort and Ann Carter - are all imagined characters, but the historical events in their stories really happened, and women like Sarah, Catherine and Ann faced real choices every bit as dramatic and difficult as those described in these stories. 'Cat & Mouse is a well written and researched epic drama with great historical merit wrapped around a fascinating web of characters and interwoven diverse plot lines ... which provides something for everyone: riots, romance, mystery, intrigue and crime all the while depicting lies, deception, betrayal and political struggles complete with a climatic ending - what more could you want from a novel?' Andrea Saxelby for the Kindle Book Review. 'First and foremost Cat & Mouse is a novel and about people, a mixture of romance and thriller. First it engagingly explores its characters' very different worlds. Then it carefully brings them together for a shattering conclusion. You won't forget this book!' Moorsman 'The Blood Upon the Rose is a masterfully written historical romance that places the reader in Ireland during the aftermath of World War I ... I enjoyed this book so much, that I look forward to reading it a second time.' Alle Wells, author of Railroad Man. The Blood Upon the Rose: 'One of the most poignant love stories I have ever read' Jenny Twist, author of Domingo's Angel 'In a nutshell, I thought that the Monmouth Summer was a masterpiece ... I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Seventeenth Century and looking to read a well researched, action packed story of an incredibly famous rebellion in English history.' Samantha J. Morris, 'A superb historical novel.. Not only is the read compelling as great fiction, it provides the reader with a strong sense of the social and cultural milieu of late Seventeenth Century England. ' Howard Wolf