Mallen Novels
3 primary works
Book 1
Mallen of High Banks Hall had many sons, most of them out of wedlock. But to all of them, he passed on his mark - a distinctive flash of white hair running to the left temple known as the Mallen Streak. It was said that those who bore the streak, borne by the sons generation after generation, seldom reached old age or died in their beds and nothing good ever came of a Mallen. The lives of all those connected to the family, by blood or otherwise, was touched by the Mallen curse. Thomas Mallen, heir of High Banks Hall, found himself a ruined man as he faced disaster and financial ruin in the turbulent 1850s. Amid scandal and disgrace, he was forced to sell the Hall and adjust to a new and very different mode of living. With him went his two young wards and their indomitable governess. Then into their lives came the Radlet brothers of Wilbur farm, one of whom bore the unmistakable Mallen streak.
Book 2
Even as a child Barbara was beautiful, but as her beauty grew so did the affliction which shadowed it. She was becoming totally deaf. Yet living in an almost silent world protected her from what could be a worse affliction - to know the truth of her own origins. Barbara had another protector in Anna Bridgmore who knew that truth, and was haunted by the thought it must one day be revealed to this girl she cherished like her own child. And among the surrounding hills and valleys of Northumberland, it was a long-relished scandal...
Book 3
A chance reference to the triplet sons of Dan and Barbara Bensham as the Mallen litter creates a bitter resentment in Barbara that is to have far reaching consequences. Barbara married Dan on the rebound from a disastrous passion for her cousin, Michael Radlet, himself now married and father of Hannah. Neither Barbara nor Michael can escape the memory of their love for each other, and when they meet again it leads to an explosive situation.