The Weavers Trilogy
3 total works 3 total works planned
The Weaver's Daughter was first published in paperback under the name Donna Baker.
In the 1800s in the Midlands, it's a hard life for the weavers of Kidderminster - beautiful carpets spring from the looms they work, but life is not always so neatly woven.
So it is for the Himley family - already struggling to get by, they must find a way of coping when their daughter, Bessie, is raped and disappears with her brother Tom to London, suspected of murder. But hope comes in the form of Rebecca, their youngest daughter.
A job in service for the Pagnel family, owners of the carpet factory, means a chance of different life for Rebecca. As she gradually rises to the position of housemaid, she gets a glimpse of a world far removed from that she was born to. When love beckons, she is unsure - following your heart can be dangerous, and for Becky will it be her saving or her downfall?
The Weaver's Dream was first published in paperback under the name Donna Baker.
London, 1824. Life has taken Rebecca far from her humble start in a weaver's cottage in Kidderminster. But although she has found love and comfort with her husband, Francis, it has meant they are both banished from the town that raised them. Instead they must raise their family - and a new business in the bustle of the capital.
But when a death finally draws them home to Worcestershire, they find the landscape unchanged, but the poverty increased. Amid the smoke of the factories and the clatter of machinery there is also the growing murmur of unrest as the workers search for a way to express their discontent.
For Rebecca, Francis and their young family it means being torn between family duty and sympathy for the weavers' plight. And while they have a dream for the future, will it be strong enough to survive the turmoil ahead?
The Weaver's Glory was first published in paperback under the name Donna Baker.
It is 1837. When Rebecca looks back at her life, she has seen much change - and much sorrow. Still young, it is hard for her to believe she has gone from scullery maid to mistress of Pagnel House. But without her husband at her side, can she make the dreams they had for the future still come true? Still reeling from her loss, she must find a way of carrying on.
Her husband's cousin, Vivian, is appalled at the idea of a woman running a business. Should she - for the sake of her sons and her business - accept Vivian's offer of marriage?
It will take all her strength and all her courage to discover where her future lies - and whether it is rooted in the land and people around her, or if the memory of a man now toiling on the other side of the world in Australia will change her destiny.