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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.