Rita Bradshaw - Free Library Land Online - Historical

The Storm Child

Sat, 11 Jul 2020 14:10:08 +0300

From the top-ten bestselling author of One Snowy Night, Rita Bradshaw, comes The Storm Child, a sweeping family saga set during the run up to WW2 in the north-east of England.

It's mid-winter, and in the throes of a fierce blizzard Elsie Redfern and her husband discover an unknown girl in their hay barn about to give birth. After the young mother dies, Elsie takes the infant in and raises her as her own daughter, her precious storm child.

Gina grows into a beautiful little girl, but her safe haven turns out to be anything but. Torn away from her home and family, the child finds herself in a nightmare from which there's no waking, but despite her misery and bewilderment, Gina's determined to survive.

Years pass. With womanhood comes the Second World War, along with more heartbreak, grief and betrayal. Then, a new but dangerous love beckons; can Gina ever escape the dark legacy of the storm child?

Believing in Tomorrow

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 14:10:07 +0300

Believing in Tomorrow is the new epic family saga from the top ten bestselling author of The Storm Child, Rita Bradshaw.
Molly McKenzie is only eleven years old when her abusive father beats her to within an inch of her life. Escaping from the hovel she calls home, Molly is found by kind fisherfolk, sick and near death. With them she experiences the love of a family for the first time and, even though life is hard, she is content.
Time passes and Molly's looking ahead to a future with the boy she loves, but then a terrible tragedy rips her life apart. Once again she's cast adrift in an uncaring world, but Molly is made of stern stuff and is determined to survive.
In the male-dominated society of the early 1900s, Molly has to fight prejudice and hatred, and rejection comes from all sides. Can she hold fast and become the woman she is destined to be?

A Woman of Courage

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 14:10:12 +0300

Saffron Skies and New Beginnings

Sat, 23 Nov 2024 00:20:31 +0200

The Winter Rose

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 14:10:10 +0300

From the top-ten bestselling author of One Snowy Night, Rita Bradshaw, comes The Winter Rose, a sweeping family saga set in the north of England.
It's December 1902 and Rose O'Leary is looking forward to her baby girl's first Christmas. But then tragedy strikes: her husband dies at the shipyard where he works and within days his friend, Nathaniel, makes it plain he's determined to have her.
Rose flees with her child, but soon finds the world is a cruel place for a beautiful woman with no protection. More tragedy ensues and yet, although she's bruised and broken, Rose is a fighter.
Then, when she least expects it, love enters her life again, but she cannot escape her past and now it threatens not only her happiness but her very life. Will she ever find a safe haven?

One Snowy Night

Sun, 25 Nov 2018 15:20:11 +0200

From the top-ten bestselling author of Beneath a Frosty Moon, Rita Bradshaw, comes One Snowy Night, a sweeping family saga set in the inter-war period.It's 1922 and the Depression is just beginning to rear its head in Britain, but Ruby Morgan is about to marry her childhood sweetheart and nothing can mar her happiness. Or so she thinks. An unimaginable betrayal by those she loves causes her to flee her home and family one snowy night. Crushed and heartbroken, Ruby vows that despite the odds stacked against her she will not only survive, but one day will show the ones she left behind that she's succeeded in making something of herself. Brave words, but the reality is far from easy. Dangers Ruby could never have foreseen and more tragedy threaten her new life, and love always seems just out of reach. Can a happy ending ever be hers?

Dancing in the Moonlight

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 14:04:38 +0200

Eve and Her Sisters

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:04:39 +0200

SynopsisFollowing their father's death in a mining accident, sisters Eve, Mary and Nell journey to the Michaelmas fair at Gateshead to be put up for hire - it is that or face the workhouse. Eve, who has looked after her younger sisters since their mother's death, cannot bear the thought of them being separated so she is indebted to innkeeper, Caleb Travis, when he takes pity on her and agrees to hire them all. Over the years, Eve's gratitude towards him turns to love, but Caleb is blind to Eve's feelings as he is infatuated with Mary. It is to take many more years of heartache before he realises his mistake. An utterly compelling,dramatic and heartbreaking love story.

Break of Dawn

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:04:35 +0200

SynopsisEach day brings a new beginning... Her mother's death in childbirth leaves Sophy Hutton at the mercy of her cruel aunt and uncle, and her childhood is brutal. At sixteen, Sophy learns the shocking truth behind her birth and escapes to London to pursue a career as an actress, determined to put the past behind her. But life for women at the turn of the century is fraught with danger and Sophy soon discovers the darker side to London's glamorous theatres. Young and innocent, she doesn't recognise the man who really loves her when he appears; instead she is charmed into marrying handsome actor Toby Shawe, a flawed and amoral individual. Then the heartache really begins...

Beneath a Frosty Moon

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 13:30:41 +0200

From the top-ten bestselling author of Snowflakes in the Wind comes a heart-breaking saga set in WWII Britain.In Rita Bradshaw's Beneath a Frosty Moon, it's 1940 and Britain is at war with Germany. For Cora Stubbs and her younger siblings this means being evacuated to the safety of the English countryside. But little does Cora know that Hitler's bombs are nothing compared to the danger she will face in her new home, and she is forced to grow up fast.However, Cora is a fighter and she strives to carve out a new life for herself and her siblings. Time passes, and in the midst of grief and loss she falls in love, but what other tragedies lie around the corner? As womanhood beckons, can Cora ever escape her troubled past and the lost love who continues to haunt her dreams and cast shadows over her days?

The Colours of Love

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:48:54 +0200

Can love survive when all is lost? England is at war, but nothing can dim land girl Esther Wynford's happiness at marrying the love of her life - fighter pilot Monty Grant. Their short honeymoon results in a baby, but on the birth of her daughter, Joy, Esther's world falls apart.Esther's dying mother confesses to a dark secret that she has kept to herself for twenty years: Esther is not her natural daughter but the result of an exchange of babies after her own child was stillborn. Esther's real mother was being forced to give up her baby to an orphanage by her furious family who were incensed about the unsuitability of their daughter's lover, and Joy's birth makes the reason clear.Harshly rejected by Monty, and with the man Esther believed was her father breathing fire and damnation, she takes her precious baby and leaves everything and everyone she's ever known, determined to fend for herself and her child. But her fight is just beginning...

Candles in the Storm

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:04:34 +0200

Synopsis

The storm that's raging when fisherman's daughter Daisy Appleby is born in a village just north of Sunderland could be taken as a warning of a turbulent life ahead. It's during another storm fifteen years later that her father and brothers are lost and Daisy rescues William, heir of a wealthy Southwick family, with whom she falls in love. Soon, as her reward for saving him, Daisy is working for William's irascible aunt, while local lad Alf continues to court her. Warned off by Daisy's grandmother, William denies his own feelings and so it will be many years later, after much hardship and turmoil, that Daisy finds the happiness she deserves, amidst the drama of the Great War.

Gilding the Lilly

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:04:38 +0200

SynopsisA heartrending tale of two sisters and their quest for a place to belong, from much-loved author Rita Bradshaw. Lily and Sarah Brown's childhood is an unhappy one. Sarah escapes by marrying Ralph Turner, a Sunderland dock worker, but Lily doesn't trust Ralph - a dark volatile man with a hidden cruel streak. When he tries to seduce Lily on his wedding day, her worst fears are confirmed. Ralph's younger brother John is cut from a different cloth, though, and Lily is increasingly drawn to him. But just when Lily sees a future for them, a terrible incident destroys her happiness. Heartbroken, Lily agrees to accompany the family she works for as a nursemaid to New York. As Lily boards RMS Titanic little does she realise that her decision will change the course of her life for ever..

Reach for Tomorrow

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:04:34 +0200

Synopsis

Reach for Tomorrow is a heartwarming tale of Rosie Ferry's indomitable spirit and determination to survive no matter what.

Rosie Ferry is hardly more than a child when her father and brothers are lost in a pit disaster. Her mother falls apart, leaving Rosie in charge of her two sisters. Rosie is determined to keep the family together. She secures a job and finds a man she could love. But life is never that simple.