Swansea Girls

3 primary works

Swansea Girls

by Catrin Collier

Published 19 July 2001

It is Saturday night and the Pier Ballroom in Swansea is the place to be: For Lily, an evacuee unclaimed by her family at the end of the war; for Judy, taught independence by her war widow mother; for Katie, the product of a marriage between a drunken, violent father and a cowed, beaten mother; and for the spoiled, wilful Helen. It is an evening that fuels jealousies and sows the seeds for friendships, confidences, and romance ...

Swansea Summer

by Catrin Collier

Published 18 April 2002

In the Swansea of the fifties, there is only one thing for a boy to do when he gets a girl 'into trouble' and that is to marry her - and quickly. Blighted by an unhappy childhood, passionately in love for the first time in his life, Jack can't wait to do 'the right thing'. A happy family of his own is all he ever wanted but not even in his wildest dreams did he envisage a wife like Helen. Beautiful, intelligent and loving, Helen is headstrong enough to defy her family and convention for Jack and, when her father gives them his blessing, their future beckons assured and glittering - until tragedy strikes and tears them apart.

Homecoming

by Catrin Collier

Published 20 March 2003

It is January 1957 and Helen's husband Jack returns from National Service. Happy to be reunited, they resume their life together. Their friends, Lily, pregnant and married to Jack's brother Martin, Katie, pregnant and married to Helen's father John, and Judy, engaged to policeman Sam, form part of their everyday life. Then Helen is utterly shattered when Jack tells her that a brief fling with a sergeant's widow has left the woman pregnant. Helen can't have children so handling her friends' pregnancies has been difficult enough; this is more than she can bear. She starts divorce proceedings but their fierce love for each other cannot be extinguished. Finally she has to make a decision which requires courage but could be the answer to their differences.