DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT RULES

by Pat Backley

“Mum, why don’t we get out the old family photos and you can tell me all about them, who everyone is, and how we’re related to them? Perhaps we could even think about doing our family tree?”

Researching her family history had seemed like such an ordinary thing to do, something to keep her mum cheerful, to delay her decline into dementia.

While researching in 2021, Alice makes a shocking discovery and realises that although society’s rules and expectations have changed over the last 100 years, human beings are still exactly the same; it’s just the way they are judged that is different.

This story, set in the southeast of England, spans more than 150 years and takes us from London to Brighton. From a bustling seaside town to the quiet of the nearby countryside. From a modern townhouse to an old Victorian mansion. From 1871 to 2021.

209 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 19, 2026

About the author

Pat Backley is English, but decided to become a Kiwi when she was 59. She now lives in Auckland New Zealand.
She wrote and published her first book just before her 70th birthday and having discovered her passion, she now intends to write till she dies!