Durham Trilogy
2 primary works 3 total works planned
Book 1
With the Great War still raw in the memory and a living wage ever harder to find, the 1920s are hardly proving a bright new era for the mining families of Whitton Grange. And, as the burden of caring for the Kirkup family falls more heavily on her, young Louie Kirkup worries that she is doomed to become a spinster drudge, forever at the beck and call of her pitmen father and brothers. Until, that is, she sees 'Red' Sam Ritson, hard, muscled and with all the dignity of a natural leader, climb into the boxing ring at the Durham miners' gala. But, wedded to his battle to maintain his fellow miners' rights against the ruthless encroachments of pit owner Reginald Seward-Scott, Sam is hardly an ideal husband and, as the tension increases, Louie knows life with him is sure to be dominated by a struggle against those more powerful than he. As the General Strike looms and Louie tries desperately to make a family home for Sam and their longed-for child, her fears prove to be well founded...
Book 2
Though by nature an optimist, when Sara Pallister arrives in the mining town of Whitton Grange, she cannot help but be appalled by the welcome she receives. Her father having died and left their farm bankrupt, Weardale-born Sara is now the poor cousin, reluctantly taken into the household of her officious, narrow-minded Uncle Alfred whose wife Aunt Ida does little but spoil their unbearable seven-year-old, agree with her opinionated husband and attend endless W.I. socials. Determined to make Sara pay her way, Uncle Alfred hires her out to work in Dolly Sergeant's grocer's shop where she meets funny, bashful young Raymond Kirkup and his warm-hearted aunt, Louie. And it is through Raymond that Sara encounters the family that is to change her life: the Demarcos. Exotic, extrovert and Italian, they are the owners of Whitton Grange's popular ice-cream parlour. Even as the shadows of the Second World War grow more menacing and hostility increases towards the foreign Demarcos, Sara finds herself irresistibly drawn to leather-jacketed, motorbike-riding Joe Demarco...