Harriet Hudson – författare

When eccentric industrialist William Potts and his wife Mildred adopt Rosie, orphaned in a railway crash, they almost rue the day. Born in the East End, Rosie is pugnacious and difficult. But one summer day, standing on a Kentish hillside, she sees a kite rise high into the sky, and knows that in the future she too must fly. William Potts becomes involved in the race to conquer the science of flight, and with his gentle daughter Polly interested only in painting, it is the hoydenish Rosie who works indefatigably alongside him in the workshop. But William will not countenance the idea of a woman flying. The ambitious and skilled Harry Clairville Jones brings further tensions to the venture. By 1906 their flying machine, Pegasus, is almost ready. Into this smouldering situation comes a man with a hard upbringing and bitter-sad memories, who has as deep a love of the air as Rosie herself. Jake Smith''s arrival sparks off a deadly rivalry. And the triumph of flight twists inexorably into tragedy and a harrowing world war.

Nell Watkins doesn''t appear to be the ordinary star-struck girl to the burly doorman barring her way to the dressing room of beautiful musical comedy star Melissa Hargreaves. ''Tell her,'' Nell insists, ''I''m the girl from Gadsby''s.''Earlier in the day, Melissa''s petulant complaint to the management of Gadsby''s famous fashion store led to Nell being promptly and unfairly dismissed. And now Nell wants Melissa to know just what her thoughtless words have resulted in. But unknown to Nell, Melissa is engaged to Tom Gadsby - with whom Nell is in love from afar. Conscience-stricken and distressed, Melissa uses her influence not only to get Nell her job back but in a more senior position, as buyer in the fashion department. Nell is consequently torn with conflicting emotions. She is thrilled with this opportunity to put into practice the innovative ideas she has to bring Gadsby''s back into the forefront of fashion retailing, in direct opposition to Jonathan Gadsby, the stubborn owner of the store, and excited at the possibilities her friendship with the glamorous Melissa brings. But her new life also brings a loss - for Tom is totally under Melissa''s spell, and even when she deceives him, he forgives her - time and time again. Yet, Melissa and Nell''s friendship seems destined to survive against all the odds.

For as long as she could remember, Jessica Gray had wanted to be a singer - until the terrible day when the powerful and famous band leader Ken Peters told her that her husky contralto voice would never be good enough for the stage. Every day for two years she had lived with the bitter disappointment, spending her time as a teacher in a small Kentish village, trying to keep her impossible mother from interfering in her life.Then came war, and Kent was in the front line. And just as the Battle of Britain was about to begin, two momentous events occurred: Jessica discovered the truth of what had happened two years previously, and she met John Gales, Spitfire fighter pilot. At first, Jessica saw John as a means to an end: through him she could sing with the squadron band, and through him she would meet the American pilot Will Donaldson, gifted clarinetist and inspired song-writer. Will had plans for their future. But, possessively, John extracted a promise from Jessica - to sing for no one but him - that would have far-reaching ramifications when tragedy struck, and would bedevil Jessica''s path to fulfilment and happiness.

For Katharine Stowerton, saving Bocton, the ancient Kentish home of her ancestors, from falling into the rapacious hands of a railway company is the most important thing in the world. When she realises her Uncle Robert intends to sell it, she spurs on his younger brother, her own feckless father Alfred, to re-open The Case - a long-running and costly lawsuit which claims an equal share in Bocton and its lands for every surviving male Stowerton under the ancient custom of gavelkind. Ever a quarrelsome and litigious family, Stowertons all over the world rally to the summons.From Australia comes Joseph, still nursing a grudge against Robert for depriving him of victory in the family game over thirty years before. Roguish and unprincipled Albert arrives from the South of France, with his liquid-eyed and equally unscrupulous son Louis in tow, while from Baghdad comes jolly Aunt Mabel, widow of another brother, George, to safeguard the interests of her son. The family feud explodes once more - but it is the arrival of her cousin Luke, representing his dour mining magnate father Jeremiah, now living in America, that turns Katharine''s world upside down. By now accustomed to a place high on the matrimonial shelf, she cannot believe that Luke is actually paying court to her, with a liveliness and determination that secretly delight her. But she makes it dauntingly plain that for her Bocton and its interests must always come first and Luke begins to despair. How can he turn bluestocking Katharine, with all her fierce and passionate love for the old house, into his own sweet Katie May - the girl he senses she is at heart?Family secrets, jealousy and the obsessive lure of silver open up a gulf of misunderstanding between Luke and Katharine, as the fast-moving action sweeps to the colourful boom town of Leadville, Colorado. The heritage of the past clashes head on with the material desires of the late Victorian age. Yet, with the solving of a centuries-old enigma as the family feud over the ownership of Bocton is settled, there may be hope. Can the gulf be bridged or is it too late for the romantic wooing of Katie May?

The Wheatsheaf Inn, with its black-beamed frontage, peg-tiled roof and riot of hollyhocks, had stood bathed in the golden sunlight of Kent for four centuries. And the Ovendens had owned it for over a hundred years. To divide the Wheatsheaf from the Ovendens was unthinkable - though it wasn''t easy keeping a small inn going in the village of Shepham miles from anywhere.Down at Faversham Station, waiting for the Hop-pickers'' Special, laughing in the August sunshine with her friend Pippin, was Beth Ovenden, the landlord''s daughter. The black-haired, dark-eyed, fiery belle of the village was just eighteen years old, with her life before her, carefree and heartfree. Until the steam engine arrived - bringing with it Richard Lyle, a handsome, daredevil student barrister - and changed Beth''s life for ever.Until that moment, Beth''s only passion had been the Wheatsheaf. But now Richard, with his dancing eyes and sophisticated London ways, seduced the naïve young girl, only to betray her, leaving her the bittersweet memory of his lovemaking - and the legacy of his child. As Beth struggled to come to terms with his desertion, she found herself in a desperate battle to save her pub from the grasp of the local brewery owner, who would stop at nothing to wrest it from her control ...