The Wheatsheaf Inn, with its black-beamed frontage, peg-tiled roof and riot of hollyhocks, had stood bathed in the golden sunlight of Kent for four centuries. And the Ovendens had owned it for over a hundred years. To divide the Wheatsheaf from the Ovendens was unthinkable - though it wasn't easy keeping a small inn going in the village of Shepham miles from anywhere.
Down at Faversham Station, waiting for the Hop-pickers' Special, laughing in the August sunshine with her friend Pippin, was Beth Ovenden, the landlord's daughter. The black-haired, dark-eyed, fiery belle of the village was just eighteen years old, with her life before her, carefree and heartfree. Until the steam engine arrived - bringing with it Richard Lyle, a handsome, daredevil student barrister - and changed Beth's life for ever.
Until that moment, Beth's only passion had been the Wheatsheaf. But now Richard, with his dancing eyes and sophisticated London ways, seduced the naive young girl, only to betray her, leaving her the bittersweet memory of his lovemaking - and the legacy of his child. As Beth struggled to come to terms with his desertion, she found herself in a desperate battle to save her pub from the grasp of the local brewery owner, who would stop at nothing to wrest it from her control ...
- ISBN10 0747231826
- ISBN13 9780747231820
- Publish Date 1 December 1989 (first published 23 February 1989)
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 19 April 2005
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Headline Publishing Group
- Imprint Headline Book Publishing
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 512
- Language English