The Tyneside Sagas

3 primary works • 5 total works

A Handful of Stars

by Janet MacLeod Trotter

Published 6 November 2006

An enthralling northeastern saga of the 1930s. It's a tale of passion, poverty and survival as the Depression brings Tyneside to its knees.Eighteen-year-old Clara Magee is devastated when her father commits suicide, leaving his family with nothing but gambling debts. Facing ruin, the Magees are forced to sell their business, a fancy-goods shop, to a German couple whom Patience resents. Despite her mother's disapproval, Clara befriends their daughter Reenie and hot-headed son Benny. Patience thinks old family friend Vinnie Craven would make far better company for her daughter, and Vinnie's admiration of Clara is obvious to all. Yet her heart lies elsewhere -- with Reenie and Benny's dashing elder brother Frank. When Frank leaves abruptly for Germany, a disappointed Clara tries to dismiss her feelings for him and eventually agrees to marry Vinnie. Clara hadn't bargained for Vinnie's violent temper, however, and his growing fascination with Mosley's Fascist party is disturbing. But the greatest shock is still to come!

Chasing the Dream

by Janet MacLeod Trotter

Published 12 November 1998

It's 1920 when life in the small pit village of Craston becomes so unbearable that Millie Mercer's mother Teresa escapes with her daughter to the nearby town of Ashborough. They find work at the dilapidated Station Hotel where Millie meets Dan Nixon, a dangerously charming man who is to change her destiny forever. For Dan is the local hero; a professional footballer who sees his future not in the pit but on the pitch, playing first division football for Newcastle United. Mille can't believe her luck when Dan asks her to marry him. His looks, his passion for the sport and his determination to succeed make the future of his dreams one of happiness and prosperity. But it's not long before Dan's drinking habits and rumours of his womanising threaten to damage both his career and his family. When tragedy strikes and an old, well-kept secret is finally exposed, Millie realises she has spent too long chasing dreams and that true happiness can always be found in reality.

For Love And Glory

by Janet MacLeod Trotter

Published 8 December 1999

Growing up in Jericho Street, Tyneside, Jo Elliot has always enjoyed a special friendship with her brother, Colin, and his best friend, Mark. However, when Mark joins the merchant navy, Jo finds herself seduced by Gordon, Mark's ruggedly masculine older brother. It is a secret and short-lived affair: Mark, returning on leave, finds Jo recovering from a broken relationship with a man she now hates and whose identity she will never reveal. Mark's tender love begins to heal her and their affection flares into a deep passion, but then something comes to light that shatters Jo's hopes for the future and ultimately destroys her wonderful relationship with Mark. As war breaks out in the Falklands both Colin and Mark are called up to fight. It's then that Jo realises that the tragic secrets of the past must not be allowed to affect the future. And that life is too precious to spend it without the man she loves - if it's not too late...

A Crimson Dawn

by Janet MacLeod Trotter

Published 14 October 2005

A powerful saga of the Northeast that sweeps through Edwardian England and into the turbulent days of the First World War. In times of poverty, times of struggle and times of war, the people of Tyneside are portrayed at their most courageous. Emmie Kelso was rescued as a child from a dingy Gateshead tenement and sent to live with the MacRaes, a generous mining family. Now an intelligent and spirited young woman, she volunteers at the notorious Gateshead Settlement - a place where the middle class live and work among the poorest. She is swept off her feet by handsome Tom Curran, a miner, but soon learns that he is brutal and violent. When war breaks out, Tom enlists and to Emmie's surprise she fails in love with the MacRae's eldest son Rab, a conscientious objector. But dark times are ahead: Rab faces execution for his political beliefs. And the end of the war brings Tom home...

No Greater Love

by Janet MacLeod Trotter

Published 3 March 2011

Raised in the slums of Edwardian Tyneside, spirited and out-spoken Maggie Beaton joins the ranks of the suffragettes, determined to prove herself to her more wealthy comrades, in particular Alice Pearson, haughty daughter of the powerful local shipbuilder. But the consequences are devastating and Maggie is soon a fugitive, spurned by family and friends. Only militant trade unionist and passionate man, George Gordon, stands by her and for a blissful time his love is enough. But war is looming and Maggie's courage and endurance will be tested to the limit, in this heartbreakingly moving novel of one woman's fight for personal freedom. A special edition of The Suffragette novel (with a new ending) to mark the centenary of the death of suffragette martyr Emily Wilding Davison.