Whispering Roots

Fülszöveg

Born over Beatties' flower shop in Shields, Frances Lidell grows up in a large family ruled with a rod of iron by her grandfather, George Beattie. Her mother, Ellen, married in haste to Eddie Lidell next door, is now the drudge of the shop; Auntie Maisie, a loving but simple lass, longs for romance but cannot wring a proposal out of her sweetheart; Aunt Hester, barely older than Frances herself, is a bully with an eye for the lads. Only Frances' grandmother, Jane Beattie, can provide the love the little girl thrives on. But Jane is haunted by the past and when, fleeing her memories, she dies a violent death, Frances' world falls apart.
As she grows older Frances seeks escape, dreaming of a career on the stage. Opportunity beckons when Auntie Maisie takes her to the music hall and Jack Scott asks her to become part of his act. She runs away with him but, inevitably, Jack brings her home again, to her roots and their whispered secrets. Married to Jack and carrying his child, angry... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Born over Beatties' flower shop in Shields, Frances Lidell grows up in a large family ruled with a rod of iron by her grandfather, George Beattie. Her mother, Ellen, married in haste to Eddie Lidell next door, is now the drudge of the shop; Auntie Maisie, a loving but simple lass, longs for romance but cannot wring a proposal out of her sweetheart; Aunt Hester, barely older than Frances herself, is a bully with an eye for the lads. Only Frances' grandmother, Jane Beattie, can provide the love the little girl thrives on. But Jane is haunted by the past and when, fleeing her memories, she dies a violent death, Frances' world falls apart.
As she grows older Frances seeks escape, dreaming of a career on the stage. Opportunity beckons when Auntie Maisie takes her to the music hall and Jack Scott asks her to become part of his act. She runs away with him but, inevitably, Jack brings her home again, to her roots and their whispered secrets. Married to Jack and carrying his child, angry at her enforced return to Tyneside, Frances feels that a net has closed around her.
Then, in 1914, war breaks out. Jack has no wish to become a dead hero and so Frances, disillusioned by her husband's reluctance to join up, turns to her childhood admirer, Davey Lawson, returned in glory from the front. But Davey's experiences have left him an emotional cripple and Frances quickly misses Jack's tenderness. Realising that there is no escape from life, she faces the harsh reality that this time she cannot run away, that she must stand by her choice of Davey. Although Frances and Jack are now ready for a deeper, truer love, they are caught in a trap from which only Davey's death can release them
Whispering Roots is the second volume in The Shadow Of The Elephant, Valerie Georgeson's compelling four-volume saga of the Beattie and Lidell families of Tyneside. Valerie Georgeson is currently working on the third book in the quartet, The Haunted Tree.
Valerie Georgeson has been a television scriptwriter for Angels, Juliet Bravo, Crown Court, Jonny Briggs and Simon and the Witch, as well as the phenomenally successful EastEnders. Her two earlier novels, The Turning Tides and Seeds of Love, the first volume in The Shadow of the Elephant, are also available from Macdonald. Vissza