Loyalties

by Alan Scholefield

Anna Webster, the head of a media empire, is successful and secure.

That is, until her past comes back to haunt her. Now, years later, she is forced to face the truth and consequences of her pre-war liaisons in Vienna. At the same time she must fight a boardroom take-over battle against her own sons and the newspaperman she married.

A powerful drama of concealed hatreds and dark secrets, affecting three generations.

Praise for Alan Scholefield

‘Suspense is more or less guaranteed’ – The Observer

‘A very efficiently woven novel of suspense and mystery . . . ingenious’ – Times Literary Supplement

‘Scholefield retains his place in the front rank of English crime writers’ – Publishers Weekly

Alan Scholefield was born in 1931 in Cape Town, South Africa. After leaving university he became a journalist and travelled widely in southern and central Africa, Europe, and America. He now lives in Hampshire with his wife and has three daughters. Most famous for his Macrae and Silver series, Scholefield has also written other novels, including Venom, which was made into a film in 1981.

Genres: Amazon

312 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 6, 1992

About the author

Alan Scholefield was born in 1931 in Cape Town, South Africa. After leaving university he became a journalist and travelled widely in southern and central Africa, Europe, and America. He now lives in Hampshire with his wife and has three daughters. Most famous for his Macrae and Silver series, Scholefield has also written other novels, including Venom, which was made into a film in 1981.

Reviews

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cleverly crafted suspense novel with excellent characterization and a plot that stretches across European history, encompassing Austria, Germany and Britain pre and post WWII. Tense and impossible to predict and ending with an unpredictable and tense conclusion.

[Meryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about things that happened in World War 2 and the way it affects one family afterward.Anna Webster went to live with her aunt after her parents died.Then she was offered a job as a nanny in Vienna by friends of her parents.She was a nanny to the Meissners children.Ruth Meissners brother was a radical and the Meissners found out they were about to be arrested so with the help of Cuno Beckerman they tried to escape.They were going to cross over in a boat Cuno had arranged but the baby,Nico,was almost frozen so they gave her to Anna to take out by a different route because she had papers to cross legally.A man who helped her cross was Wilson Baird,a reporter.Wilson told her the man she loved,another reporter named Ben Ramsey was dead.Wilson got her pregnant on the trip to his fathers and married her.Wilsons father who they lived with left her the majority of his newspaper empire when he died.By then she had another son.The way Wilsons father had set it up she would only need one of her sons votes if Wilson tried to take the papers from her, which he does when the boys are adults.She finds out that the Austrians have a man they think is Beckerman in custody and he is accused of war crimes and may have murdered the Meissiners.She has to deal with at the same time as the takeover bid.A lot of secrets come out that she tried to keep hidden for 50 years.This is a good story filled with surprises and suspense.