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For Better For Worse

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A dramatic read from Sunday Times bestseller, Pam Weaver, filled with bigamy, scandal and friendships which bring hope in the darkness. The perfect read for fans of Katie Flynn and Maureen Lee.

July 1948. As Britain recovers from WWII, Annie Royal is looking to the future. Recently married to Henry, and with a baby on the way, she and her new husband are happily settled in the seaside town of Worthing.

But a knock at the door brings Annie’s world crashing down. On her doorstep stands Sarah and her two young children. As they talk, Sarah reveals that she is Henry’s wife – and she has been searching for him since he walked out on their family a year ago.

Struggling to believe what she’s hearing, Annie is forced to accept the truth when Henry is arrested for bigamy. Alone, with no one to support her, and with the baby due to arrive imminently, Annie must look to the most unlikely of places to find support in her darkest hour…

417 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 17, 2014

75 people are currently reading
151 people want to read

About the author

Pam Weaver

30 books118 followers
After training as a Nursery Nurse in the 1960’s, I worked in children’s Homes, private day nurseries and as a Hyde Park nanny. My experiences are in Bath Times & Nursery Rhymes which became a Sunday Times best-seller.

I started writing in 1990’s with small magazines and specialist publications, finally branching out into the women’s magazine market in 2001. I have since written more than 200 articles and at least 150 short stories. They’ve been in Take A Break Fiction Feast, Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special, Weekly News, My Weekly and People’s Friend. Some have been in anthologies with the proceeds going to charity. The Fantastic Bubble was repeated on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service.
My novels are set in Worthing; There’s Always Tomorrow (2011) Better Days Will Come (2012), Pack Up Your Troubles (2013), For Better For Worse (2014), are all published by HarperCollins Avon. Blue Moon (2015) & Love Walked Right In (2016) are published by Pan Macmillan. I also have a couple of novellas on Kindle. Emily’s Christmas Wish (2015) and Amy’s Wartime Christmas will be released in October 2016

If you are looking for murder mystery and intrigue in a saga… look no further!

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5 stars
448 (61%)
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185 (25%)
3 stars
66 (9%)
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16 (2%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Profile Image for poppie.
115 reviews12 followers
February 10, 2018
I almost gave up with this at one point as it wasn't keeping my attention but am glad that I persevered to the end as it did improve a great deal. A rather complex situation for a story but well written and in the end a jolly good read.
Profile Image for Kim.
2,120 reviews65 followers
June 19, 2015
I love family sagas set in the WWII or post war era- so this book was a real treat for me. This one is set in the seaside town of Worthing.

Three women discover that they are married to the same man. Harry is arrested for bigamy- but their problems don't end there. They have to deal with the problems associated with having illigitimate children in this era. You also get to hear Henry's point of view- what an awful man!

The characters are so well drawn and I got completely lost within the pages!



Profile Image for Hayley Noble.
85 reviews7 followers
July 22, 2014
We start with the lives of 3 woman, set in post war times. What they don't know is that they share a husband. Henry. He left Sarah with her 2 girls penniless and alone. He left Kaye alone without anyone, and is currently married to the young Annie who is expecting their first child. This is until Sarah and Kaye find Annie and each other, and uncover Henry's lies and his bigamy.

This is such a good book, I picked it because of the time it was set in, but enjoyed the story. Very dramatic, a bit chic lit, but that doesn't bother me because it brings so much more to the table. This is definitely one for the sister hood, how these woman, who lives have been destroyed, managed to rebuild them.

Kaye is my favorite character. Her story is the most tragic yet she remains kind, and has given herself the life she never knew she could have.

Sarah and Annie also suffer a really hard time. When they realize that they now have illegitimate children, and how horrible that is, especially in the time period this wonderful novel is set in. Even though both characters irritated me at first (though I could see where they both were coming from)it was loving to see them mature and grow throughout the story.

Henry is of course the villain, and I really liked how you got to see things from his point of view and what he was planning, even though he really was a s***.

Overall this book is fantastic. Full of drama, that will make you stay up all night to devour it (trust me, I did it). Above all, it really sucks you in and makes you care about these characters. This is a great work by Pam Weaver, and I can't wait to read more of her work.
Profile Image for Shirley Revill.
1,197 reviews286 followers
June 2, 2018
I listened to the audiobook version of this story and I enjoyed every word.
Brilliant storyline and narration, deserves much more than five stars.
Storytelling at it's best, highly recommended.
Profile Image for Redfox5.
1,651 reviews57 followers
August 11, 2018
Set just after World War II, three women must come to terms with the fact that they were all married to the same man. In an age when being a single mother or pregnant and unmarried was a serious scandal, they face some tough choices.

Luckily they band together and form a lovely friendship in which they support each other. Unfortunately for them, their bigamist husband isn't quite finished with them yet......

I love books set in this time period and I really enjoyed this one. Thought it floundered slightly towards the end but otherwise was a great read!
Profile Image for ReadAlongWithSue recovering from a stroke★⋆. ࿐࿔.
2,880 reviews426 followers
September 10, 2014
I just can't help coming back to some of my favorite authors, the genre that I took to when first starting out seriously reading and Pam Weaver is one of my guilty pleasures to curl up to in the garden on a nice summers day and read.

How would feel if you had not long been married, have a baby on the way and someone turns up on your doorstep who claims to be looking for YOUR husband because she is looking for HER husband? Well it would rock your world right off its axis if it were true.

Yes, Henry is a bigamist. He gets convicted, but what happens to the '2 wives'? and the children. Then low and behold, there is a third wife!

There they are, 3 wives, children of from it and all living in the same area. You need to set your mind back to when illigitimate children, unmarried moms where looked down on.

Its a sorry state of affairs as each woman struggle.

You do get to hear Henry's side!

I was so lost in this book today, cleared my mind of all sorts of things going on around me. Its a light read, you don't have to sit there and think too much, the book just opens up to you.

Very intriguing subject matter I though.

I would like to thank HarperCollins UK, Avon via Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this lovely book.
Profile Image for Hannah Polley.
637 reviews11 followers
August 2, 2019
I do enjoy books that are set in the postwar era and this is a nice female bonding story.

Henry Royal has married 3 women and each times he marries a new wife, he abandons the previous one in terrible circumstances. As this is revealed and Henry is sent to prison, all 3 women need a little bit of help in their lives.

They all move in together and find friendship and happiness.

I know it is an unrealistic story but it kept me gripped and I enjoyed reading it.
Profile Image for Katie.
304 reviews9 followers
March 6, 2022
this book is done such a disservice by the cover/blurb - it was SO good, and a completely different story than the one i was expecting from the summary. so many great characters, a bit of mystery, strong women helping each other and a lovely ending!

Profile Image for mois reads .
536 reviews1 follower
February 27, 2018
Wife's

A lovely read from Pam with romance and some intrigue a book definitely to read 5 STARS for Pam weaver .
Profile Image for Jane Willis.
181 reviews13 followers
August 19, 2018
I shouldn't have enjoyed this book. It's not my kind of thing at all - family sagas bore me, and the idea of a man's three bigamous wives setting up home together is one "willing suspension of disbelief" step too far for me.
And yet I did enjoy it. I liked the characters - Henry, for instance, although a thoroughly Dislikeable character was so well written that he made me feel I'd met several people who, given the freedom of fictional lives rather than real ones, could well have gone the same way. Kaye, too, was a strong character, an independent and ambitious woman at a time when that was still very unusual.
Profile Image for Michelle Hammond.
807 reviews4 followers
October 24, 2019
Set against the back drop of the aftermath of the war with rationing still in place, I found the characters believable & likeable. I'm unsure as to how common a crime it was back then, but without all the technology we rely so heavily on today it's easy to believe that these things were easier to get away with. A very enjoyable read but a follow up would be nice to see how the remaining characters have moved on.
Profile Image for beverley.
19 reviews1 follower
July 1, 2017
A good read

Not my usual type of book but I have enjoyed reading this. A look at the way in not so ancient times, a a man could get away with living a double life because we had no way of traveling or even basically contact he next village or town. Well written and thought out by the author.
127 reviews6 followers
March 24, 2021
Very interesting due to the bigamist and his three wives. Lots of drama. Henry was obsessed with having a son and possibly getting more money, but he didn't care about any of his wives.

I listened to the audiobook. On the day I finished it, I had listened for four or more hours. It captivated me.

I'll look for more books by this author.
Profile Image for Daphne.
175 reviews3 followers
October 24, 2024
The title, blurb and cover are doing this story a great disservice. It's a story about domestic abuse, survival and female friendship to the background of the years just after the war. I would definitely recommend.
225 reviews3 followers
March 6, 2018
The baby

I loved this story. At first I was a little lost with the different women but once I got the first chapter done. I really got into the three women
Profile Image for Janey Dicker.
17 reviews
March 9, 2018
Excellent read

Lovely characterisation. Really great storyline with plenty to keep you reading. Fab. My first book by Pam and Il be reading her others.
102 reviews2 followers
September 30, 2018
Good

I enjoyed reading for better for worse. It Was a good story I look forward to reading more from pam weaver
96 reviews3 followers
May 7, 2021
Great book

Good read just what you need for a lighthearted book but with lots of twists and turn. Certainly like this author
Profile Image for Teresa Burlow.
30 reviews
March 3, 2023
Loved this book, loved it from start to finish, have just started another book by the same author
233 reviews3 followers
November 25, 2025
Good read set in the 40s about a serial bigamist controlling man ...his 3 wives all meet up and how he shaped their lives comes through well .
Profile Image for Stevie Carroll.
Author 6 books26 followers
April 4, 2015
Previously reviewed on The Good, The Bad, and The Unread:

The years immediately following a major war may seem on first consideration to make for a less exciting backdrop to a story than the war years themselves, but that’s rarely the case, especially in the realm of family sagas. The upheaval was particularly noticeable for women after the Second World War, when they were suddenly expected to conform to the role of housewife after years of taking care of everything for themselves – and also faced stigma and even isolation if they failed, whether through any fault of their own or not. In the case of this story, the fault certainly didn’t lie with any of the three main women, but with the man who had duped and betrayed them.

Since Henry Royal (and yes that name seems to be a deliberate play on words) walked out on his wife Sarah, she has tried to provide for their two daughters through a string of cleaning jobs and through taking on commissions to make children’s clothes for a travelling salesman. Although they’ve moved into cheaper accommodation than that they rented when Henry was around, the loss of even a small sum of money – such as when Sarah’s purse goes missing – could spell disaster. Hearing a rumour that Henry has been seen with another, younger, woman in a nearby town, Sarah takes her daughters (no one being available to look after them) and gets a lift over there with a friendly delivery driver.

When she arrives, Sarah is confronted by an angry, pregnant, young woman, and then by Henry himself – who throws her out of the house. Before she can decide what to do next, the police arrive and arrest Henry for bigamy: not only had he married this new woman without divorcing Sarah, he had still been married to his first wife when he and Sarah got married. To make matters worse, when Sarah’s family find out, they blame her for having her daughters out of wedlock, even though she had no way of knowing about Henry’s past.

Sarah attends Henry’s trial and sees him found guilty and jailed for six months. However, she may be free of him, but her troubles aren’t over, as she finds herself evicted from the home she was renting and turned away from her sister’s house when she seeks help there. Help finds her from an unexpected source, in the form of Henry’s first wife who needs a housekeeper to take care of an aunt recently released from the institution that was her home for almost thirty years. Soon, the household is swelled further by the arrival of Henry’s third wife – much to Sarah’s initial dismay – and the women start to rebuild their lives.

Henry, meanwhile, is plotting in his prison cell and hatches schemes to discredit his wives, claim his son – his third wife’s child – and swindle money from gullible older women. He gets his comeuppance in the end, though not without heartbreak for some of the other characters.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable read, made all the better for being written by an author who seems thoroughly familiar with both the era and the area in which the story is set. I’ll definitely be tracking down the other books she’s written – all set in and around the town of Worthing, a place I’ve visited only a few times but would love to read more about.
Profile Image for Elaine.
604 reviews240 followers
July 19, 2014
Pam Weaver is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I don’t normally read books in this genre, but for some reason I always look forward to curling up on the sofa with a Pam Weaver. I know I am going to get a darn good read with plenty of drama and some good, likeable characters. It could well be that she is not afraid to go down routes that are a little darker than you would normally find in a family saga type read.

The story is set in 1948 and three women are about to get a shock when they discover they have something in common – a husband. When their mutual husband Henry is jailed for bigamy, it should be the end of the matter and time for them to make fresh starts, but it won’t be as easy as they think. It is the story of how Kaye, Sarah and Annie go forward and rebuild their lives, but two of them have children who are now classed as illegitimate and they are in for a rough time.

All three women have distinctive well rounded characters. Kaye is intelligent and caring, Sarah is loving and a devoted mother who would do anything for her children whilst I really enjoyed reading about Annie. She is 18 at the start of the book, a bit of a romantic, thinks the world revolves around her and with a tendency to be a little selfish at times, but we watch her grow into a mature young mother who I really liked by the end of the read.

As for Henry himself, will his prison sentence give him chance to reflect on his behaviour and turn over a new leaf? Or does he have something up his sleeve? Henry was a very interesting character to read about, a complete and utter rotten swine and his story is far from over. There are plenty of shocks in store for the women.

I really got lost in this book, wanting to know what was going to happen to the three women and wondering whether Henry would get his just desserts.

If you want a bit of compelling light reading that you don’t have to think about, but with plenty of drama, intrigue and danger, then this is well worth a try. Thanks to the publishers for the review copy.
Profile Image for Maureen Timerman.
3,220 reviews490 followers
December 29, 2014
For Better or Worse sure made me think, and refreshed my memories of things I had been told about the world coming out of WWII.
We meet egotistical Henry Royal/Royale who seems to love himself more than anything or anyone. He has charm to make women do his bidding, and he wants for nothing. Until?? His world comes crashing down, will he up for the fight as it seems he believes life owes him and everything is his due.
He has left ravished families in his wake, and hurt little children, all because he only wants one thing, and if he doesn’t get it, oh well, to anyone who gets in his way. The women he has victimized seem to be very strong, and appear to be landing on their feet, in his aftermath.
There are surprises galore in this book, some will make you chuckle and others will have you in tears. I never saw a lot of what happens coming, and sure was surprised. I know that people put in mental hospitals that once they were committed they were there until someone signed them out. One law that I’m glad has changed, and the out come of this one will warm your heart.
Right until the last page of this terrific read, you are kept spell bound, and page turning, I had to learn what happens, especially to the villain of this story, Henry!
If you pick up one read this year, this one will keep you reading. I really enjoyed it!

I received this book through Edelweiss and the Publisher HarperCollins, and was not required to give a positive review.
Profile Image for Vicki - I Love Reading.
961 reviews56 followers
December 1, 2014
I don’t normally read books in this genre, So for me this was not just a step but a giant leap out of my comfort zone.
I can safely say I will be reading more books like this, and look forward to reading more from this author.

Set in the Worthing area in the 1940's this really struck home how times have changed. Especially when someone had to run to the phone box to phone the police. We take so much for granted today.

3 Married ladies are about to find out just how much they have in common, and how kindness can bring them together. How to overcome hardship and carry on with life.

A gripping read, full of surprises and I wanted to just sit reading it until I finished.
Profile Image for Dave Hartley.
82 reviews1 follower
January 8, 2015
Unexpectedly found my self reading Pam's books when a friend of hers lent me a copy. Started the book thinking i really should read it (after all a friend lent it to me), finished the book thinking when's the next one. Great job Pam keep going.
263 reviews1 follower
January 20, 2016
Good story

This story takes place in England in the 1940s. I enjoyed the storyline. Not sure of some of the English slang or the value of money mentioned but all in all I would recommend this book.I just ordered a few more of Pam Weaver s books.
Profile Image for Ena.
44 reviews
October 16, 2014
Not as good as I expected from this author. I have read other books by Pam Weaver and loved them. This one just didn't click with me.
Profile Image for Elaine.
10 reviews1 follower
February 8, 2015
I loved this book! It kept me guessing and twisted and turned without being confusing. Awesome writing would highly recommend!
22 reviews
February 6, 2015
Nice book to curl up on the sofa with a hot chocolate on a cold rainy day. And a nice change from the thriller that I usually read. Will be looking out for more by this author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews

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