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Jailbird's Daughter
Alison Grant is just five when her father is sent to prison for murder. Taunted at school for being a jailbird's daughter, then abandoned by her mother, she goes to live with her grandmother. She tells her only new friend that her mother is dead and her father is a ship's captain. It is the beginning of a new life of lies and deception, which continues after her grandmother's death. Alison begins to dream of owning a chain of cafes and becoming a lady, but her family's shaming secret will come back to haunt her once more.
- GenresFiction
272 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2005
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 30, 2018
Really enjoyed this one.
April 24, 2021
This was my first book by this author and I loved it. Will definately read more of hers.
October 24, 2023
Ok read but predictable.
June 20, 2013
A wonderful story told in the style of Catherine Cookson / Josephine Cox and to be fair is a worthy contender to be up with those great authors.
Alison Grant after being told by her mother she is a "Jailbird's daughter" is unceremoniously dumped on her grannie Francie up at Bellhanger house.
Frannie knowing her daughter doesn't intend to come back and is leaving for a new life with her latest man does her best by Alison and tries to bring her up and hide her out of the way of the master "Mad Michael" who is grieving for his lost wife who left him for another man.
Alison manages despite her circumstances to grow up safe and loved in the confines of Bellhanger and has a little company in the nephew of Michael, Richard Tarrant and another employee Silas but when her grannie dies and she is left to look after the master and the house things take a turn for the worse under the new housekeeper Michael has taken on to help her Bellhanger.
Alison subsequently leaves to make her fortune and due to help from Michael who has a genuine fondness for her she finds work at a cafe for a while until situations become untenable and she has to move on.
With help from Michael yet again and a stroke of luck she opens up her own cafe and in time a whole chain of cookshops but the war puts paid to her enterprising venture.
So is set in motion a chain of events that leads her into all sorts of adventures, where she is caught up in the war and serves as a nurse abroad in Mesopotamia, the return of her longg lost mother and father and into a serious scrape with dubious characters from her past that puts her life in danger set against the backdrop of her burgeoning love for her one time childhood playmate Richard.
Everything builds to a shattering head where Alison is in mortal danger, can Richard save her and is there any hope of happiness for the pair who seemed doomed through circumstances to be kept apart.
Definitely worth reading if you love a good period or historical novel.
Alison Grant after being told by her mother she is a "Jailbird's daughter" is unceremoniously dumped on her grannie Francie up at Bellhanger house.
Frannie knowing her daughter doesn't intend to come back and is leaving for a new life with her latest man does her best by Alison and tries to bring her up and hide her out of the way of the master "Mad Michael" who is grieving for his lost wife who left him for another man.
Alison manages despite her circumstances to grow up safe and loved in the confines of Bellhanger and has a little company in the nephew of Michael, Richard Tarrant and another employee Silas but when her grannie dies and she is left to look after the master and the house things take a turn for the worse under the new housekeeper Michael has taken on to help her Bellhanger.
Alison subsequently leaves to make her fortune and due to help from Michael who has a genuine fondness for her she finds work at a cafe for a while until situations become untenable and she has to move on.
With help from Michael yet again and a stroke of luck she opens up her own cafe and in time a whole chain of cookshops but the war puts paid to her enterprising venture.
So is set in motion a chain of events that leads her into all sorts of adventures, where she is caught up in the war and serves as a nurse abroad in Mesopotamia, the return of her longg lost mother and father and into a serious scrape with dubious characters from her past that puts her life in danger set against the backdrop of her burgeoning love for her one time childhood playmate Richard.
Everything builds to a shattering head where Alison is in mortal danger, can Richard save her and is there any hope of happiness for the pair who seemed doomed through circumstances to be kept apart.
Definitely worth reading if you love a good period or historical novel.
December 9, 2014
As per me....it's a must read book. Loved the plot and characters.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews