Harriet Smart's Books
GREEN GROW THE RUSHES
Smart's characters
have a feel of authentic life and move in and out of a backdrop which
cunningly incorporates political change, trade union rebellion,
suffragette noise and good food - The Sunday Times
In the summer of 1900, a group of young people are brought together in the decaying splendour of the Quarro, a Scottish country house owned by
the down-at-heel Lennox family. As their loves touch, new alliances are
formed - some doomed to failure and bitter despair, others that will
endure against the odds to bring lasting happiness.
Jessie Macpherson, newly appointed cook, daily dreams up sumptuous menus
and dazzles the Lennoxes and their guests with her skill. But even at this
time of triumph, Jessie realises there has to be more to life. Sholto
Hamilton, a poor but ambitious lawyer and highly successful ladies' man,
offers her a glimpse of other delights, and before long Jessie is
trapped in the sensual web he has woven. But what future together can
there be for a gentleman and a servant? Will Sholto wish to burden
himself with a wife such as Jessie when he still has his way to make in
the world?
The future seems far more assured for Celia Lennox, the daughter of the
house, and Sholto's friend Ralph Erskine. Heir of an Edinburgh steel
magnate, and a passionate admirer of Celia's wild, fey beauty, there
could not be a more eligible candidate than Ralph for her hand. But,
eligible or not, another man has caught Celia Lennox's eye - and perhaps
her heart.
Meanwhile Ralph's sister Alix despairs of ever fitting the rigid mould
of society wife and mother. Surely a woman's sphere of influence need
not be confined purely to the drawing room and marital bed? Alix
overcomes parental opposition and society's disapproval to win herself
an education and against all expectations finds a man who shares her
views, a match made in heaven - until a shocking stroke of fate robs her
of happiness and turns all her passion and commitment on to the fearsome
path of martyrdom for the cause of women's suffrage.
A sweeping, panoramic survey of turn-of-the-century Scottish society -
from country house to industrial slums, bohemian free-thinking to High
Tory Politics - Green Grow the Rushes is peopled with a cast of
memorable and vividly realised characters.
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THE DAUGHTERS OF BLANE
Three young ladies with more beauty and charm than Isobel, Leonora and Vivien
Buchanan, daughters of the laird of Blane, would be hard to find; their marriage
prospects are exceptional. Indeed, in the summer of 1890, Isobel is already engaged
to a duke.
But Isobel is secretly uncertain about the man she is to marry. When another, utterly unsuitable
candidate presents himself, she is stunned by the strength of her feelings. Suddenly she must
make a decision that could have devastating consequences.
Younger and more independent, Vivien has always resisted the destiny allotted to women of
her class. Marriage to a radical politician seems to offer her the deep and close relationship
she seeks; but time and changing ideals can temper the deepest passion.
Only Leonora, spoiled and extravagant, is ready to settle for a conventional marriage.
But a rich and titled husband is no guarantee of happiness, especially against the
pull of true but illicit love.
Set against the turbulent events of the 1890s and moving from the Western Isles of
Scotland to London society, from slum life in Edinburgh to a palazzo in Venice, and
finally to the battlefields of the Boer war, The Daughters of Blane is the
passionate and ultimately triumphant story of three women who refuse to fit the
mould society has made for them.
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THE LARK ASCENDING
When Chris Adam receives a proposal from Guy Lindsay, a wealthy
young landowner, her family are astounded and delighted - this would be
a fine match indeed for a daughter of the Manse. Chris
is tempted, for she is powerfully attracted to Guy, but she has a
vocation - to be a composer - and she chooses instead to go and study
music in Edinburgh.
In her lodgings in the New Town Chris meets Angus Bretton, who has been
sent down from medical school in disgrace. Though he seems strangely
restrained compared with the passionate Guy, Chris falls deeply in love
with him. And it is Angus who comes to her rescue when circumstances
conspire against her and she finds her dreams in ruins. They plan a
future together, but the shadows of Angus's past have not dispersed. A
chance meeting with Guy gives Chris a glimpse of the fulfilling life she
might have had - but now that she is committed to Angus, and Guy is
married, it seems romantic happiness will elude her.
War in 1914 changes everything. Chris, now, against all the odds,
growing in stature as a composer, must like so many women wait at home
while the men she cares about take their chances on the battlefields of
Europe. Tragedy, betrayal and bitter scandal lie ahead before Chris can
fulfil her musical destiny, and stand by the side of the man she loves.
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RECKLESS GRISELDA
On an impetuous journey to stop her father making an unsuitable marriage, Griselda Farqharson meets dashing Tom Thorpe.
They fall instantly in love, and into trouble. After she indulges in a sensual clandestine encounter with him, Griselda
is forced to face the consequences of her reckless disregard for the rules of society. For this is England in 1816
and Tom is a wealthy baronet, caught up in a net of emotional entanglements and family conflicts. Determined to do
the right thing and preserve Griselda's reputation, he must face the ruin of his own. As a whirlwind of scandal
engulfs them, will Griselda and Tom be able to transform their passionate attraction into a true and lasting
happiness or will their love be destroyed by it?
Moving from the Norfolk countryside to the fashionable drawing rooms of London, Reckless Griselda is a
hot-blooded regency romantic comedy that asks the question: Should you let your heart rule your head?
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THE WILD GARDEN
Kate Mackenzie is on the brink of success as an artist when she meets Gabriel Erskine,
twenty-two years her senior. She's not looking for a relationship, but Gabriel's understanding
of paintings and his outlook, so different from that of her friends, captivate her.
Six months later, she moves into Allansfield, the beautiful house in rambling gardens on
Gabriel's estate in Fife. She doesn't know him well, but what better way to change that than
by living with him?
Henrietta Winthrop has no idea, when she arrives in St Andrews, that Gabriel Erskine
lives nearby. Almost thirty years earlier she made a decision that affected both their
lives, a decision she has often questioned since. When she discovers that the lovely
young woman she has encountered painting in the grounds of the ruined cathedral lives with
Gabriel, Henrietta is stunned, yet can't resist an invitation to Allansfield. But how
will she feel when she sees Gabriel and Kate together in the home that could have been hers?
At Allansfield the arrival of Gabriel's son Hugh with his young child has brought the age
difference with her lover sharply into focus for Kate, while wealth and comfort are proving
no impetus for her creativity. When she realises too that Gabriel has lied to her about the past,
Kate begins to wonder if she can ever be fully part of his life - and if this is in any
case what she wants.
Touching, involving and honest, The Wild Garden is an utterly contemporary novel
about life's choices, love's different aspects, and second chances.
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A GARLAND OF VOWS
Precisely and lovingly observed...an extremely promising first historical novel - The Sunday Times
John Winterfield of Winterfield Works in Birmingham, makers of church furnishings, is the stern and rigid Catholic patriarch
of his family. His brutality, disguised by religious moralising, causes his younger son Philip to rebel
and leave home. Apprenticed to his uncle, architect Sebastian de Troyes, Philip is inspired by his uncle's
genius but forced into subterfuge by the spectre of Sebastian's drunkenness. His struggle to protect his uncle's
reputation only brings further conflict with his father, and he has to escape once more, this time to London.
Lady Kitty Valentine is the pampered and privileged daughter of an Earl. Raised in luxury, trained in the arts
and social graces, she is expected to make the right marriage. But Kitty chafes against the confines of her class
and when she meets Philip Winterfield, she falls in love with a man her parents can never approve of and can
never allow her to marry. Everything conspires to keep them apart, and she has to give him up, as she gives
up his child. She becomes trapped in a desperately unhappy marriage to Lord Randolph Glastonbury. But her love
for Philip never dies and they are reunited when she is widowed. The blissful reunion is not all that it promised.
For Philip, alone for many years, is devoted to his work and Kitty and their son Tom have to find a way to live with this brilliant but difficult man.
Ursula Winterfield, Philip's sister, also escapes from their overbearing father by marrying William Grant, a wealthy Scottish
artist. But a life of leisured ease in Edinburgh fails to satisfy her and she returns to Birmingham
to run the family business. Her daughter, Julia, is similarly independent and becomes a surgeon,
rejecting the passionate offers of Charles Glastonbury, Kitty's son by her first marriage. Only the
horror of the Great War, when she serves as a field surgeon, is enough to make her realise that
she cannot live alone. But then, in the aftermath of war, Julia is faced with an even more painful
dilemma - the choice between two men.
© 2010 Harriet Smart
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