ABOUT THE BOOK
The paths of two generations of women cross, when researcher Rhiannon Harrowdine, fact-gathering for a book, traces the elderly widow of Battle of Britain pilot Harry Sartain, now an arthritic 96-year-old in a nursing home run by nuns.
The Sartains once lived at Green Court, now an imposing country house health spa, the focus of Rhiannon's fascination; illegally adopted at birth, she discovered that her real family lived there after the Sartains, and that three unsolved mysteries are attached to the house that she longs to investigate further: the disappearance of a young graduate there during the war, a rock star who claimed it was haunted, and the mysterious death of an American romantic novelist that was never solved.
The two women strike up an immediate rapport, but Eveleen is still holding back old secrets. Escaping from abusive fosterers, she falls into the clutches of a callous confidence trickster who bigamously marries her for his own ends, then abandons her to face a prison sentence for his own crime. On her release at the outbreak of war, she volunteers for the WVS and finds herself escorting evacuees into rural Kent, where she meets and marries the charismatic Harry Sartain. But the marriage falls apart when he becomes morose and bitter at the savagery of war and the loss of his comrades and close friends, and Eveleen falls in love with his brother, Rufus.
Rhiannon's own marriage to barrister and now judge Stephen Harrowdine, is also falling apart, but she struggles to keep their increasing dissension from their young children. Ultimately, sustained by her passionate enthusiasm for her work, her friendships, and a new relationship formed during the search for facts for her book, she finally finds the strength to leave the family home, free at last to take the next steps towards a new life.
Book Details:
Title: Orphans Of The Storm
Author: Arabella Seymour
Genre: intrigue, romance, mystery, historical
Series: Gree Court Trilogy, book 2
Publisher: Peach Publishing, (July 20th 2018)
Print length: 434 pages
FROM THE AUTHOR
However much a reader has enjoyed a book, only a tiny minority actually bother to leave a review – this is even more important to the author of the book than other prospective readers – because getting to learn of their readers' opinions and what they like or dislike about a book is very important to most authors, myself included. There is too little interaction between writers and readers at the moment – and I hope this will change.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arabella comes from a creative family on her mother's side – mum was a music hall artiste – and has loved writing from an early age – poems and short stories to begin with, first novel published in her teens. She thinks of a new book as a dressmaker might think of a new garment – put the fabric on the tailor's dummy and go from there: change the hem, tweak the neckline, add or take away as needs be. An idea can come from nowhere; sometimes from the stimulus of a memory, a personal experience, a piece of music, a picture. Then it gradually takes shape, growing and changing as it goes.Arabella was born in Greater London and educated at various girls' schools, and worked in London libraries until she married and moved to Canterbury with her husband. She is divorced with one daughter, and was able to write her first really successful novel A Passion In The Blood, while at home when her daughter was small. This was published by Collins in the UK, Putnam in the USA and translated into French, where it sold out the entire first edition.
She is currently writing the third and final novel in the Green Court saga.
Connect with Arabella:
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(official author website)
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