The Morland Dynasty
8 primary works • 39 total works
1803: Napoleon is poised to invade England, with only Nelson's weather-beaten ships in his way, but the French fleet are not the only threat to the fortunes of the Morland family.
In the North of England, Mary Ann's relationship with the missionary, Father Rathbone, introduces her to the stark realities of life in plague-torn Manchester.
In the South, Lucy's lover, Weston, is assigned to the blockade of Brest, while her neglected husband, Chetwyn, finally finds love in an affair which threatens him with disgrace and ruin.
From the fashionable salons of Beau Brummell's London, to the shot-torn docks at Trafalgar, the Morlands face danger and personal tragedy, as well as love and fulfilment.
1795: the shadow of Bonaparte has fallen across Europe and touches each member of the far-flung Morland family.
As the century draws to a close, Jemima Morland wearily ackowledges that her life is also nearing its end, but she has scant peace as her unpredictable children behave ever more incomprehensibly: James's marriage to Mary Ann is closer to falling apart; Lucy's marriage de convenance is in the balance - her affair with Lieutenant Watson is an open scandal.
Mary bears a daughter on board her husband's ship during the battle of the Nile; and William supports a mistress whose marriage cannot be dissolved.
Jemima's death appears to unite the family but, as ever with the Morlands, the future holds more peril than hope.
1833: the industrial age is sweeping through England and the Stephensons are planning the greatest engineering scheme ever undertaken- a railway line from Liverpool to London.
At Morland Place, Nicholas had hoped that his brother Benedict, had been banished forever, but railway fever has brought Benedict back to Yorkshire as an engineer on the Leeds & Selby line. It is a lonely life and he fears he will never be wealthy enough to marry his new love, Miss Fleetham. Nicholas fears that Benedict is not only a threat to his inheritance but to Morland Place itself, as plans to bring the railway to York will desecrate the estate.
The conflict between the brothers mirrors the nation's battle between the old and new, but the Morland feud seems certain to end in tragedy and no-one the victor.
1820: the landscape of England is undergoing sweeping change as the country pioneers the steam-driven machine age.
The Morlands, too, face change: Cousin Africa returns from St Helena to startle society with her unconventional ideas; Lucy brings her sons home from their Grand Tour, brimming with ideas for their future. In Manchester, Sophie and Jasper meet fierce oppostion to their plans for re-housing the factory hands; while in London, Rosamund enters a bizarre agreement with her husband Marcus, with bitter consequences.
And at Morland Place, James and Heloise watch their two sons approaching manhood. Benedict delights equally in love and locomotives, while Nicholas, the heir develops a taste for more unusual pleasures- and an impatience to claim his inheritance.
1831: as England emerges from the post war depression, the country is changing, and the birth pains of the Reform Act bring it to the brink of revolution.
The violent times breed violent acts, both outside and inside the Morland family. Sophie's life is shattered by a hideous crime. Rosamund learns that achieving her dreams brings as much pain as pleasure. Heloise, mourning her beloved James, lets control of Morland Place fall into chaos- Benedict has to flee his home and makes a life amongst the railway pioneers, while Nicholas now has the freedom to indulge the dark side of his nature.
And amongst them all stalks the deadly, invisible threat of cholera.
1807: the Napoleonic Wars continue and their violence reverberates in the lives of the Morland family.
Lucy trying to rebuild her life after the death of her lover, Captain Weston, is thrown into doubt and confusion by an unexpected proposal of marriage.
At Morland Place, the hard-won happiness of James and Heloise is threatened by his rebellious daughter, Fanny. As heiress to the Morland estate, Fanny is determined to claim more than her inheritance, but for those dependent on her generosity, Fanny's decision to marry the unscrupulous Lieutenant Hawker brings only anxiety.
These troubled times hold many surprises, and in their darkest hour the Morlands make an astonishing discovery which enables them to face the uncertain future with new strength.
1916. England is at war, and the Morland family is in the thick of it, with two men already in France and three more soon to go.
Tragedy strikes Morland Place when Jessie's husband Ned is reported missing on the Western Front. His father launches a desperate bid to find him, but the family fear the worst. Jessie, in mourning and frustrated by her job as an auxiliary nurse, goes to London to work in a military hospital. There she is reunited with her old friend Oliver, posted to the capital under the RAMC. Also in London is Violet, whose affair with the brilliant artist Octavian Laidislaw is about to erupt in scandal . . .
The Measure of Days paints a portrait of a family, and a nation, at war, at a pivotal point in history. With the onset of conscription, no one is left unaffected. Every man must hold himself in readiness; and every woman knows that when she says goodbye, it might be for the last time.
1772: Althought George III reigns over a peaceful England, his colonies in the Americas are claiming independence and a tide of revolutionary fervour is gripping France.
Allen Morland and his beloved wife Jemimas work unstintingly to bring Morland Palace back to its former glory. Their seven children often bring them heartache, but they are sustained by their love of each other.
The Mordland adventurer, Charles, emingrates to Maryland in persuit of the heiress Eugenie, but finds himself in the midst of the American claim for indepdence.
Meanwhile, Henry, the family's bastard offshoot, pursues pleasure relentlessly but pennilessly until he finds a niche for himself in the fashionable Parisian salons, whilst outside revolution creeps closer...
1720: political intrigue besets the kingdom as the Stuarts try to claim the throne occupied by the Hanoverians and the Morlands have to use all their wiles to keep their fortunes intact.
Jeremy Morland, sole heir to his father's will, has no option but to marry to cold-hearted Lady Mary to secure Hanoverian protection and safeguard his inheritance.
Then the rebellion of '45 and the bloody massacre at Culloden thrust his daughter Jemima into the spotlight as the saviour of the family. Independent, single-minded, and a rare beauty, Jemima is a capable caretaker of the Morland heritage.
Although Morland Place and its lands suffer from the excesses of her dissolute husband, Jemima's quiet courage earns her an abiding love and loyalty...
1788: the bloody revolution in France causes upheaval in the Morland family.
Henri-Marie Fitzjames Stuart, bastard offshoot of the Morland family, strives to protect his daughter, Heloise, his mistress, Marie-France, and their son Morland.
To this end, he binds Heloise to a loveless marriage with a Revolutionary, and allies himself with the great Danton. But in the bloodbath of the guillotine and the fall of Danton, Henri-Marie loses his head and Heloise flees to England.
She is welcomed with open arms by the family, and in Yorkshire Jemima proudly witnesses three marriages amongst her turbulent brood.
At least three may be an heir to Morland Place, but the seeds of disaster have already been sown.
England in 1912 still bears itself with Edwardian confidence, but strikes, protests and public violence reveal the fault lines as society evolves under the spur of new ideas and technology. Among the many branches of the Morland family, Jessie and Violet, childhood friends, learn to cope with the surprises of marriage and motherhood and their different strata of society. Jack, disappointed in love, loses himself in designing aircraft and training airmen for the newly formed flying corps. And Anne exhausted by the Suffragette struggle, seeks comfort in her friendship with an unconventional young woman.
The Titanic tragedy shakes the confidence of a people used to conquering nature with engineering; and all the while, the troubled nations of Europe edge closer to a war no-one wants, but which seems inevitable.
1501: the turbulence of Henry VIII's reign brings passion and pain to the Morlands as they achieve ever greater wealth and prestige.
Paul, great-grandsom of Elanor Morland, has inherited the Morland estates, and his own Amyas is set to be his heir. But Paul fathers a beloved illigitimate son, and bitter jealousy causes a destructive rift between the two half-brothers which will lead to death. Paul's niece, Nanette, becomes a maid-in-waiting to Anne Bolyen, and at the court of Henry VIII she becomes embroiled in the King's bitter feud with Rome.
Through birth and death, love and hatred, triumph and heartbreak, the Morlands continue proudly to claim their place amongst England's aristocracy.
In 1915 the first euphoria of the war has worn off, but the nation is more determined than ever to win. When Ned is sent to the Front ahead of his battalion, Jessie, already involved in various charity works, feels the need to do more and becomes an auxiliary nurse. But life on the wards is harder than she expects. Meanwhile, Helen and Jack settle in a home of their own at last, and Helen takes on a surprise war role of her own. And for Violet in London, a chance meeting with talented young artist threatens to destroy her calm and ordered life.
With stalemate on the Eastern Front, everything now hangs on the new September offensive on the Western Front, the Battle of Loos. Both Ned and Bertie will be leading their men over the top, leaving the rest of the family to pray for their safe return.
It's 1917 and the Allies are determined to finally defeat a weakened Germany - everything is building up to the summer's Big Push. Germany strikes back with U-boat attacks to starve England out, giant aeroplanes to bomb London, and the cunning withdrawal to the Hindenberg Line. Every Briton must do his bit, and the Morlands are involved at every stage: fighting and nursing in France, stoically surviving at home - and finding love where they can along the way.
Continuing the great saga of the Morland dynasty, The Foreign Field carries its members into a new set of conflicts and tests their courage to the limit.
It is 1931 and the world is still reeling from the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash.
Polly Morland has returned to Morland Place, saving it from financial ruin. Her plans to change things are met with resistance, however, and she must prove her mettle in a man's world. Jack, war hero and family man, knows that he must make a change for the sake of those he holds dear so when an opportunity arises that would take him back to York, he seizes it with both hands.
In London, Robert is bored with his office job and seeks something grander. Fatherless and dealing with the repercussions of his family's bankruptcy, he must make his own way now that he has been left to the mercy of the world. His sister Charlotte, also frustrated with her life and sure that she will never receive an offer of marriage, longs for something different as well.
As the years roll by, the threat of another war hangs in the air and when King Edward VIII takes to the throne, things seem to be on the brink of change once more. But like a phoenix rising up from the ashes, the Morlands prove yet again that they will emerge from whatever they must face stronger than ever before.
The eagerly-awaited return to the acclaimed Morland Dynasty series, and the 100th novel by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
England, 1936
The reign of Edward VIII has begun, but danger for the monarchy already looms on the horizon. At home in Morland Place, Polly Morland feels alone and abandoned, with her brother summoned to France by his old employer. James soon finds himself travelling to Russia, whereas Polly will voyage on the Queen Mary with New York - and a long-lost love - her destination. Soon the family are scattered to the four winds, from Hollywood to war-torn Spain.
Working for the Air Ministry on new fighter planes, Jack fears that his children are not taking the increasingly tense situation in Europe seriously enough. The nation is divided over which is the greater thread: Communist Russia, or Fascist Germany. As the storms of war gather, they will threaten to overwhelm the Morlands and destroy all that they have worked for...
The BRAND-NEW novel in the acclaimed Morland Dynasty historical fiction series with over a quarter of a million copies sold. The perfect read for fans of Downton Abbey, Lucinda Riley and The Crown