Anna Jacobs

Jessie Burton is lively and intelligent - she wants more than the respectable life in service her mother has planned for her. Times are changing; railways are being built across the land, bringing new freedom and possibilities....

Carrie Preston is used to hard work - oldest of 10, with an incompetent mother and a drunken father, she struggles to find food for her siblings....

Lancashire, 1895. When her controlling stepfather suddenly dies, it seems that Elinor Pendleton finally has a chance of freedom. But her hopes are soon dashed when she learns that the thuggish Jason Stafford has inherited every penny, and is determined to have Elinor too....

Three sisters. Three journeys. One destination....

Keara Michaels doesn't want to leave her family in Ireland, but fate sends her first to Lancashire, then across the sea to Australia, pregnant and penniless....

Lancashire, 1930: Leah Turner's father has been killed in an accident at the laundry, and since her mother died years ago it falls to her to become sole provider for her little sister....

Lancashire, 1895. Lillian Hesketh has taken a new name, and a brave step towards a happier life. Suddenly widowed after an unhappy marriage, and pursued by her unscrupulous in-laws, Lillian finds a fresh start in the beautiful Ollindale valley....

In 1820, Salem Street is sparkling and new: eight small terraced houses built by a Lancashire mill owner for his best workers. Annie Gibson's family is one of the first to move in....

When Miranda Westerby's estranged and unpleasant great-aunt suddenly passes away, it appears that she left a legacy behind: a home in the idyllic village of Fairford Parva, Wiltshire. However, there are strings attached to the inheritance....

Gwynna had fallen from grace once, bearing a stillborn child out of wedlock. Determined to have a respectable future, she finds a position for herself as a nursemaid at Hungerton House....

Janey is 18 and living in a small flat with her baby daughter. Just as her new life starts to show promise, her past catches up with her....

An unexpected inheritance is most people's dream, but not so for Paula. She's happy and secure in Western Australia with her own business, a complete contrast to her rootless childhood, and has little interest in the minor stately home in Wiltshire of which she is apparently now the owner....

In Western Australia, Sarah chuckles as she describes her final will and testament—which will throw the metaphorical cat among the family pigeons. Six months later, at the age of 95, she peacefully passes on....

For Mattie Willit, caught in a thunderstorm running away from her bullying stepfather....

Molly Peel feels trapped by her family: her ex-husband Craig cannot seem to abandon his controlling ways despite abandoning her for a younger woman, her lazy son Brian has long been taking advantage of her generosity, and her selfish daughter Rachel is embarrassed by her....

Kathleen's family are determined to force her into marriage with a violent man. In desperation she runs away and finds what consolation she can for her lost dreams....

The final part of the Blake sisters saga set in Lancashire and Western Australia in the 1860s, following on from Farewell to Lancashire and Beyond the Sunset. Fate can take you to places beyond your dreams....

Emmy Carter's mother is a prostitute - and her life has made Emmy determined to avoid the same fate....

Lancashire, 1931. When Finn Carlisle loses his wife and unborn child, he spends a few years travelling to keep the sad memories at bay....

When a new feature on Pete Newbury’s popular TV programme shows his adult image digitally transformed to that of a young child, Beth is shocked to realise that he’s her baby brother, who disappeared without a trace thirty-eight years ago....