Author(s): Anita Burgh

Historical Fiction

The second in a historical trilogy set in Devon in the early 20th century, following the fortunes of two families during a time of war and social upheaval

It is 1913 and the world is on the brink of war. The Kaiser is sabre rattling in Europe and men are beginning to query the existing order. To the majority of the inhabitants of the estate of Cresswell Manor in Devon, the summer seems endless; why should they not think that life will continue as it always has, ruled by the seasons and the whims of the Cresswell family? But change is afoot for the Cresswells too. Hannah is heavily involved with the suffragettes, whose aims she approves of but whose methods she abhors. She still dreams of finding love. Esmeralda deceives her husband for the strangest of reasons. Lettice, married to a brute of a husband, longs for freedom...

Young Mortimer Cresswell appals his mother by falling in love with an estate worker's daughter, while his tearaway brother, Felix, breaks her heart in his pursuit of hedonism. Most of them are ignorant that war is looming, that society is about to change for ever and that the England their forefathers knew is about to alter beyond their wildest dreams - or fears.