Mary FitzGerald – författare

Words upon the Window Pane, first staged in 1930, is W. B. Yeats's most powerful and brilliant dramatic exploration of the occult, in which he had a lifelong interest, and an affirmation of Anglo-Irish Protestant cultural ascendancy. Written at Lady Gregory's Coole Park estate, it features a séance in which Jonathan Swift's voice is projected through a medium. Like Yeats, Swift was both politician and poet, and taking Swift as his subject allowed Yeats to cloak a political message under personal character.Quite probably based on an obscure one-act play called Swift and Stella by Charles Edward Lawrence, Lady Gregory's editor, the play is centered on a romantic triangle involving Jonathan Swift and two women, Vanessa and Stella. Yeats's use of a séance as a frame permits him to compare the present with the past by putting twentieth-century Dubliners side by side with Swift's contemporaries. This volume of the Cornell Yeats contains transcriptions and photographic reproductions of the drafts of Words upon the Window Pane, with variant readings from proofs, typescripts, and notebook entries, as well as other materials pertaining to its writing, publication, and performance.

August 1937Seffy Blake falls in love with Amyas Troy from the moment she sees him on a Cornish beach. But when he disappears, she is forced to face the consequences of their affair alone.In London, Seffy makes a new life for herself working as an assistant to journalist Charlie Bradford, and as Europe hurtles towards war, it is Charlie who sees her through her darkest times.But when Amyas reappears in her life, Seffy must decide whether to follow her heart, or accept her genuine love for Charlie and keep what remains of her family safe from the terrifying consequences of war.

A girl with no home, a house in need of love... A beautiful romance set in the breathtaking Welsh mountainsLark has been wandering the country for many years, with no real place to call home. Until she meets Matthew Williams, a Canadian who has inherited a run-down hill farm in North Wales. Young and enthusiastic, Matthew has no knowledge of farming and no experience of living in the countryside.Entranced by the beauty and wildness of the place, Lark agrees to help, and together they throw themselves into getting the farm back onto its feet.Until a terrible accident brings Matthew’s father over from Canada, and suddenly none of their lives will be the same.

1944: Three girls join a touring variety group and travel through Europe, entertaining the troops as World War II draws to a close In the wake of D-Day three very different women join a touring variety company, performing to factory girls, hospitals and serving troops.Catherine's husband has been reported missing in action and she needs a job to support her mother and daughter.Della, a Liverpudlian show girl, is ambitious for fame and hides her problems behind a devil-may-care attitude.Frances, titled but impoverished, will do anything to keep the family home safe for her brother, a POW in the Far East.Travelling from show to show, the three women form a strong bond. But when they follow the advancing army through France, their friendship deepens as the company is stalked by lies and betrayal, and it’s clear that nobody will come home the same.Previously published as Imperfect Tense.

Can love survive the worst betrayal of all?From the moment Elizabeth Nugent arrives to live on his family’s farm in Shropshire, Richard Wilde is in love with her. And as they grow up, it seems like nothing can keep them apart. But as the Second World War rages, Richard is sent to fight in the jungles of Burma, leaving Elizabeth to deal with a terrible secret that could destroy his family. Despite the distance between them, though, Richard and Elizabeth’s love remains constant through war, tragedy and betrayal. But once the fighting is over, will the secrets and lies that Elizabeth has been hiding keep them apart for ever?