The Deep Well at Noon

Beckman Trilogy #1

by Jessica Stirling

Holly Beckman was a gifted and determined Jewish young. She suddenly inherited a share in the antique shop where she'd worked as a dedicated apprentice, it was the beginning of both her climb to success and her descent into heartbreak. Her burning ambition sustains her through personal tragedy and the collapse of her antique business, fights for acceptance and happiness in London during the 1920s.

Genres: Historical Fiction

528 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1979

About the author

A pseudonym used by Hugh C. Rae, initially in collaboration with Peggie Coghlan and later alone.

Hugh Crauford Rae was born on November 22, 1935 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, son of Isobel and Robert Rae. He published his first stories aged 11 in the Robin comic, winning a cricket bat the same year in a children’s writing competition. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as an assistant in the antiquarian department of John Smith's bookshop. At work, he met her future wife, Elizabeth. Published since 1963, he started to wrote suspense novels as Hugh C. Rae, but he also used the pseudonyms of Robert Crawford, R.B. Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar) and James Albany. On 1973, his novel "The Shooting Gallery" was nominee by the Edgar Award. On 1974, he wrote the first few romance novels with Peggie Coghlan, using the popular pseudonym Jessica Stirling. However, when she retired 7 years after the first book was published, he continued writing more than 30 on his own, and also as Caroline Crosby. His female pseudonyms first became widely known in 1999, when "The Wind from the Hills" was shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Widowed nine years ago, Hugh died on September 24, 2014 at the age of 78.

Reviews

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS)]

I tried, I really did. But, oh my, this story was so slow.

With itty bitty font.

At a whopping 551 pages.

Life's too short.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a copy in which the print is very small - I can see what the last reviewer means! It's better to read it on Kindle unless you can find one with bigger print. However, I first read this series a long time ago (this is the first part of a trilogy) and it has had a special place in my heart ever since. I love it! Young Holly Beckman from the East End wants 'better things' and once she starts working at an antique shop, she never looks back, in spite of opposition from a powerful family.

[Gillian Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is a sweeping family sage and the characters are interesting and believable. It is apparently the first book of a three book series and I have been left wanting to know what happens to the characters in the next book