Brothers and Lovers

6 primary works

Beggars and Choosers

by Catrin Collier

Published 16 October 2003

In Pontypridd and the Rhondda in 1905 coal is king and the families who sunk the first collieries are rich. None is wealthier or more generous a benefactor than Harry Watkin Jones. His daughter Sali is about to marry her childhood sweetheart, but tragedy follows tragedy and four years later Sali is a penniless outcast, fleeing from a violent husband and struggling to support herself and her son in a world very different from the one in which she has been brought up. Sali finds work in the home of family of colliers. Here she and her son find the warmth and love missing from their lives for so long. But unrest and violence have come to the valleys. Caught up in the conflict, Sali finds herself denying her roots, her class, and even sacrificing her son's future, for the sake of the people she loves and the cause they are prepared to die for.

Winners & Losers

by Catrin Collier

Published 15 April 2004

Megan Williams is eighteen and in love with the boy next door, Victor Evans. It is 1910 and, in the Rhondda Valley, poverty and hardship are taking their toll as troops are brought in to control the striking miners. The only work Megan can find is in a house where the police and soldiers lodge, but she is shunned by friends and neighbours, who believe she has betrayed her class by working for the enemy. Megan's father would rather see his daughter dead than married to a Catholic, particularly one whose father and brother are marked as strike ringleaders. Caught in the middle, Victor and Megan find themselves fighting for the right to love one another, remain together and build a future they can share.

Sinners & Shadows

by Catrin Collier

Published 4 November 2004

Orphaned at eight, raised by a brutal sadistic brother, nineteen-year-old parlour maid, Rhian, dreams of meeting a man who will love her and give her what she wants more than anything else in the world, a family of her own. When she is invited to join the Evans family on New Year's Eve 1913, her life is thrown into turmoil. The youngest Evans' brother, twenty- two year old Joey, confesses he loves her. Handsome, charming Joey has never met a woman who could refuse him anything. But Rhian is suspicious of his reputation as a ladies' man and it takes time, tenderness and persistence to win her trust. Just when she finally admits that she loves him as much as he loves her, Joey's past overshadows and finally shatters their happiness. Unable to separate truth from lies, wanting to hurt Joey as deeply as he has her, Rhian turns to her employer, Edward Larch, for solace. Unhappily married, Edward offers her the only position he can, that of his mistress. Her choice is simple and irrevocable - to forgo love, her reputation as a 'respectable girl' and all chance of a settled family life for the sake of financial security.
Then Europe is plunged into war, turning everyone's lives upside down. But Rhian cannot stop thinking about the man she loved who betrayed her - and the problems peace will bring.

Finders and Keepers

by Catrin Collier

Published 16 June 2005

`Meticulously-researched…warming the hearts of millions of readers.’ Historical Novels Review

`Collier has a gift for bringing her characters to life that will keep the reader engrossed until the end’ Daily Mail

A new Saga Queen hits the televisual cobbles- Daily Telegraph

Finders & Keepers – Book Four in the Brothers and Lovers series

Harry Evans's first years of life were blighted by a brutal stepfather.

At the age of five his mother, Sali, married a miner, Lloyd Evans, a passionate believer in workers' rights. When he returns to Pontypridd after school, he finds that his beloved "grandfather," ex-miner Billy Evans, has lung disease, and when Billy is sent to a sanatorium in the Welsh Hills, the only one free to accompany him is Harry. There Harry meets two very different women: Diana, a feminist medical student, and Mary, an illiterate, orphaned farmer's daughter. For the first time in his life Harry falls in love, only to suffer rejection. Harry turns to Billy for consolation, and as his relationship with the old man deepens, he learns about life, love, and the responsibility that comes with inherited wealth.

But he also discovers the responsibility each man owes to himself to live his life as he, and no one else, sees fit.

Tiger Bay Blues

by Catrin Collier

Published 3 April 2006

Pontypridd 1930. At eighteen Edyth is the 'plain, intelligent' one of Harry and Sali Evans's five daughters, until a chance meeting with handsome curate Peter Slater throws her life into turmoil. Head over heels in love, she sacrifices her own ambitions of a college education and career, and defies her parents' opposition so she can help Peter realise his dream of running his own parish. The church sends Peter to Butetown, a dockland area of Cardiff, commonly known as Tiger Bay. There Edyth and Peter encounter rich cultures from all corners of the world, cultures that flourish despite desperate poverty and the Depression. It is a society where creed, language and the colour of a family's skin doesn't matter - as long as the borders that separate Tiger Bay from the city aren't crossed. Then Edyth discovers exactly why her parents were so opposed to her marriage. Peter has a dark secret that has not only blighted his life but also hers. A secret that threatens to destroy her love and, ultimately their marriage.

Tiger Ragtime

by Catrin Collier

Published 1 November 2006

`Meticulously-researched…warming the hearts of millions of readers.’ Historical Novels Review

`Collier has a gift for bringing her characters to life that will keep the reader engrossed until the end’ Daily Mail

A new Saga Queen hits the televisual cobbles- Daily Telegraph

Book Six in the Brothers and Lovers series by best-selling author Catrin Collier

Judy Hamilton was born in the Cardiff docklands.

Homeless after the death of her grandmother, she finds friendship, work and lodgings with Edyth Slater, above her bakery in Cardiff's colourful Tiger Bay. While attempting to make her way in a vibrant and complex society, Judy dreams of one day becoming a successful singer and actress. Restless and anxious to make his fortune, David Ellis leaves his brothers and sisters behind him on their isolated Breconshire farm. He is ready to embark on a new, more exciting life and is willing to do whatever it takes to find success. The enterprising natives of Tiger Bay manage to make a living from those rich enough to remain unscathed by the depression of the 1930s. Flouting the law, they open illegal casinos and nightclubs to cater for those who can still afford a good time. None are more ruthless than Aled James. With Aled's help, Judy finally breaks into the glittering paste and cardboard world of the city's nightclubs and theatres, but Aled demands a high price for his assistance.

David and Judy soon discover that even with a pocketful of money, the life they'd dreamed about may come at too high a price...