Böcker av Adrienne Nash

Ben, 15, was difficult, withdrawn and liable to sulk and with the years had become ever more unhappy. His sister Jessica, 18, had become mother to him after their mother died of cancer, and Dad was most of his time in London running his import export business. Tom, 25, their brother has been a forever student and wants a last fling, skiing the winter in Canada, but as a fresh tragedy strikes all plans go awry. It seems someone wants them all dead, but who? Ben's psychological problem comes to the fore and Jessica, old beyond her years deals with that and the threats to both their lives as they hide out in the less populated areas of Scotland. At last Ben feels able to confide in his sister. The COVID-19 pandemic interferes with life just as Ben has found himself and new friends but Jessica manages him and manages to keep them safe to find new lives.

In 1939, when Elizabeth, the daughter of a wealthy cotton mill owner, meets the dashing honourable James, she is overwhelmed by a handsome young man who is the opposite of her retiring, shy nature. Elizabeth has been schooled in etiquette at a Swiss finishing school but suffered slights from other girls from the 'best' families in Europe, titled and arrogant. Her father has no love of the aristocracy, wasters and scoundrels, he calls them, but for his daughter to be a future countess of Cumberland, that is something to contemplate. They marry but Elizabeth soon tires of the London scene. On the estate, Castle Hemgarth in the county of Cumberland, Elizabeth feels safe. World War 2 intercedes and takes James away, leaving Elizabeth to nurse her dying father-in-law and the estate. What Elizabeth and James want so badly is an heir but when James, an officer rising rank by rank, is away, what chance is there of that? Elizabeth finds courage and finds her feet as Countess of Cumberland and James has a wandering eye and a life away from Hemgarth.