Genres: Historical Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+

Eleanor, Agnes and Emma are all spirited young women, with a zest for life and hopes and desires for their future. Just like young women everywhere. But, in the 14th century, women rarely determined the path of their own lives. Men––fathers, husbands, brothers, lovers––were in charge. Not that that necessarily deterred the women from trying to make the best of things. Emma Bidwell’s family are cottars, on the lowest rung of society in the rural Hampshire village of Meonbridge. Their lives are hard, relentless, poor. Emma’s father wants a better life for her and his other children, but his idea of “better” and hers do not necessarily agree. Rejecting her father’s chosen suitor, Emma is determined to choose a husband for herself. As the daughter of a wealthy freeman, Eleanor Titherige’s future looks bright. Yet, 14th century life is precarious, even for the rich. When her beloved mother’s latest pregnancy...

Genres: Historical Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+

How can you rescue what you hold most dear, when to do so you must break your vows? 1363. When Mother Angelica, the old prioress at Northwick Priory, dies, many of the nuns presume Sister Rosa – formerly Johanna de Bohun, of Meonbridge – will take her place. But Sister Evangelina, Angelica’s niece, believes the position is hers by right, and one way or another she will ensure it is. Rosa stands aside to avoid unseemly conflict, but is devastated when she sees how the new prioress is changing Northwick: from a place of humility and peace to one of indulgence and amusement, if only for the prioress and her favoured few. Rosa is terrified her beloved priory will be brought to ruin under Evangelina’s profligate and rapacious rule, but her vows of obedience make it impossible to rebel. Meanwhile, in Meonbridge, John atte Wode, the bailiff, is also distraught...

Genres: Historical Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+

First published September 2023 1362. Winchester. Seven months ago, accused of bringing plague and death from Winchester, Bea Ward was hounded out of Meonbridge by her former friends and neighbours. Finding food and shelter where she could, she struggled to make her way back to Winchester again. Yet, once she arrived, she wondered why she’d come. For her former lover – the love of her life – Riccardo Marchaunt, had married a year ago. And she no longer had the strength to go back to her old life on the streets. Frail, destitute and homeless, she was reduced to begging. Then, in January, during a tumultuous and destructive storm, she found herself on Riccardo’s doorstep. She had no plan, beyond hoping he might help her, or at least provide a final resting place for her poor body. When Bea awakes to find she’s lying in Riccardo’s bed once more, she’s...

Genres: Historical Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+

First published October 2022 How do you overcome the loathing, lust and bitterness threatening you and your family’s honour? It's 1363, and in Steyning Castle, Sussex, Dickon de Bohun is enjoying life as a squire in the household of Earl Raoul de Fougère. Or he would be, if it weren’t for Edwin de Courtenay, who’s making his life a misery with his bullying, threatening to expose the truth about Dickon’s birth. At home in Meonbridge for Christmas, Dickon notices how grown-up his childhood playmate, Libby Fletcher, has become since he last saw her and feels the stirrings of desire. Libby, seeing how different he is too, falls instantly in love. But as a servant to Dickon’s grandmother, Lady Margaret de Bohun, she could surely never be his wife. Margery Tyler, Libby’s aunt, meeting her niece by chance, learns of her passion for young Dickon. Their conversation rekindles Margery’s long-held rancour...

Genres: Historical Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+

Published October 2020 How can a mother just stand by when her daughter is being cozened into sin? It’s 1360, eleven years since the Black Death devastated all of England, and six years since Emma Ward fled Meonbridge with her children, to find a more prosperous life in Winchester. Long satisfied that she’d made the right decision, Emma is now terrified that she was wrong. For she’s convinced her daughter Bea is in grave danger, being exploited by her scheming and immoral mistress. Bea herself is confused: fearful and ashamed of her sudden descent into sin, but also thrilled by her wealthy and attentive client. When Emma resolves to rescue Bea from ruin and tricks her into returning to Meonbridge, Bea doesn’t at first suspect her mother’s motives. She is happy to renew her former friendships but, yearning for her rich lover, Bea soon absconds back to the city. Yet,...

Genres: Historical Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+

Published June 2019 How can you uphold a lie when you know it might destroy your family? It is 1356, seven years since the Black Death ravaged Meonbridge, turning society upside down. Margaret, Lady de Bohun, is horrified when her husband lies about their grandson Dickon’s entitlement to inherit Meonbridge. She knows that Richard lied for the very best of reasons – to safeguard his family and its future – but lying is a sin. Yet she has no option but to maintain her husband’s falsehood... Margaret’s companion, Matilda Fletcher, decides that the truth about young Dickon’s birth really must be told, if only to Thorkell Boune, the man she’s set her heart on winning. But Matilda’s “honesty” serves only her own interests, and she’s oblivious to the potential for disaster. For Thorkell won’t scruple to pursue exactly what he wants, by whatever means are necessary, no matter who or...

Genres: Historical Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+

First published June 2018 How can mere women resist the misogyny of men? The devastation wrought two years ago in Meonbridge by the Black Death changed the balance of society: women saw their chance to build a business, to learn a trade, to play a greater part. But many men hold fast to the teachings of the Church and fear the havoc the so-called “daughters of Eve” might wreak if they’re allowed to usurp men’s roles and gain control over their own lives. In Meonbridge, a resentful peasant rages against Eleanor Titherige’s efforts to build up her flock of sheep… Susanna Miller’s husband, grown melancholy and ill-tempered, succumbs to idle gossip that his wife’s a scold… Agnes Sawyer’s yearning to be a craftsman is met with scorn. And the village priest, fearful of what he considers women’s “unnatural” ambitions, is determined to keep them firmly in their place. Not all...

Genres: Historical Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+

First published November 2016 How do you recover when half your neighbours are dead from history’s cruellest plague? June 1349. In Meonbridge, a Hampshire manor, the worst plague in England’s history has wiped out half its population, among them Alice atte Wode’s husband and Eleanor Titherige’s entire family. Even the household of the manor’s lord and his wife, Margaret de Bohun, have not escaped the horror. Now the plague has finally left Meonbridge, the community is trying to return to normal life. But it’s a struggle, with so much to do and so few left to do it. Tensions mount between the de Bohuns and their tenants, as the workers realise their scarceness means they can demand higher wages, go wherever they wish, dictate their own lives. It’s what they’ve so long waited for! Though his lordship takes a very different view… When the tensions deepen into violence and disorder,...