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Fleethaven Trilogy #2
آن سوی ساحل
It is 1926 and soon to be parted from her home, family and most of all her beloved Danny, Kate Hilton is devastated when she is sent away to boarding school. When she learns that she and Danny can never marry, she finds unexpected release with the outbreak of war and becomes a driver in the WAAF.
617 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1995
20 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Dickinson
95 books179 followersBorn in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Margaret Dickinson moved to the coast at the age of seven and so began her love for the sea and the Lincolnshire landscape. Her ambition to be a writer began early and she had her first novel published at the age of twenty-five. This was followed by many further titles including Plough the Furrow, Sow the Seed and Reap the Harvest, which make up her Lincolnshire Fleethaven Trilogy. She is also the author of Fairfield Hall, Jenny's War and The Clippie Girls. Margaret is a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 10, 2024
This book follows on from another I have read recently, and it was a good follow up. I enjoyed it.
Four stars.
Four stars.
June 19, 2017
3.5 - Ok.
Set in rural, poor, on the beach coast of Lincolnshire England (?) in 1926.
The book is very predictable. I felt it had so much potential but never fully develops any of the characters, or the scenes .. Except perhaps the very end (the last 50 odd pages), I knew what was going to happen. it almost feels like just when it's getting good - it jumps, and moves on to the next scene / saga and thus feel like its really lacking something, and I kept feeling like I wanted more ... almost there, but then, ugh.
The book starts with Kate (Katharine) just having learned that she is being sent away to boarding school. Her mother has remarried and she and her step father, Jonathan Godfrey have a new baby who is getting all of everyone's attention. She doesn't like the baby. To make matters worse, her very best friend, Danny, has just stopped going to school (as he is now of the age that he can work). When Danny stops going to school, this is also the time that she stops being allowed to seem him. There is clearly a reason (And have assumed that her mother must have had an affair with Danny's father?).
In an attempt to stop the developing relationship with her daughter’s lifelong friend, Danny Eland, Esther (Kate's mum) arranges for Kate to attend a boarding school in Lincoln, (not advised how we learn of the school, or how they can afford to send her there ... assume it must be the Godfrey family? Mr. Godfrey Sr. was the Deputy Head of the nearby Boys school.
The school is dreadful. On arrival the other girls make fun of her hand made clothes, and her un-schooled accent. At supper they are required to speak only French, which Kate knows none and is therefore forced to sit next to the strict Head of School. She is forced to eat the horrible food until she throws up. The kids are mean and tease her (turning off the light while she is having a bath, taking her favorite shell that Danny had once given her, which she had kept under her pillow). Because Kate is unable to keep her hair perfectly tidy in a straight braid, her hair grabbed and is cut off her with no warning. In her horror, frustration, she runs away from the school and takes sanctuary in the Cathedral. After evening mass she makes her way outside ... and not knowing where to go, in the now pouring rain, she tries to walk to her grandfather's house. She sleeps the first night in a barn, and then heads off, promptly getting lost, and getting sick she is picked up by a man in a horse and cart. As luck would have it, he knows her Granddad and takes her to his house, where she is looked after briefly by the neighbor until such time as Granddad comes home (it his here you get the 2nd hint ... you as the neighbor in her confusion notes that you never had a grandchild, and when it is explained that she's Esthers ... oh, the bastard?). Granddad then takes her home (sick & skinny) and Esther promises not to send her back to the school.
Of course, Kate starts seeing Danny again. However she promises her mother, that she and Danny are just friends, and that she will never never eve touch Danny (or any other boy) until she has a ring on her finger. Promises mean everything, and so of course mum trusts Kate and they continue their friendship, which over the next 4 years grows. They clearly are in love with each other and they promise to get married. On the eve of Kate's 18th birthday they agree to finally disclose their love for one another to their respective families ... and of course, we learn that they are indeed half brother/sister. Danny's mother (Beth) had been in love w/ Matthew. Matthew liked anything that walked in skirts. Kate's mum arrives in the town and Matthew starts to chase her. She won't have anything to do with him. He needing the chase eventually succumbs and begs him to marry her, which she does. He marries Kates' Mum & it is only later after they are wed they find out that Beth too is pregnant. Matthew goes off to war and dies. Beth and Esther hate each other - never have anything to do with each other (but are there for each other when there's a disaster!)
Kate, then leaves her home town and moves to the city where she finds a job in the fabric store, while learning to be a seamstress (copying her stepfather's mother). Some 13? years later, she decides she's had enough of the city and moves back to her home town ... where she is now able to have a friendship with Danny.
Its is now war time, and all the boats in the area have been sequestered by the British. Danny delivers his stepfather's boat, and Kate joins him. Upon delivery, Danny volunteers to drive his boat to the French coast to pick up stranded British and help bring them back to England. Kate joins (she will steel the boat, to allow Danny to help pick up the men off the beach). There they meet a boisterous commander, and 1 RAF who is almost dying. They manage to get them back into the 'battleship', but when the ship is blasted, Kate & Danny are thrown overboard and almost drown. They are rescued by the boisterous commander. While in hospital, Kate briefly meets the gorgeous blonde with amazing bright blue eyes RAF man that they rescued! (... assume she will eventually fall in love with him???). Following this, both Danny and Kate agree that they must enlist immediately after the Harvest: Danny-RAF; Kate-WAAF and they go off on their separate ways... Danny to the North, while Kate heads South.
She's in training for the WAAF and having been v. successful, she and her friend Mavis are sent to the barracks in Lincoln. Mavis are then joined by 2 more roommates ... and much to Kate's incredulous horror, none other than the horrific bitch from boarding school, Isabel Cartwright, who at first does not recognise Kate. It's clear that Isabel hasn't changed in her stuffy ways as the way in which she is seen to treat Edith Brownlow. But, after some time in living together, and Kate catching the rat running around in their bedroom does Isabel finally calm down and the 4 of them start to respect each other and their differences and become friends. Kate is specifially requested to be the CO's personal driver, and to her surprise, ... you guessed it ... who is none other than Phillip Trent (the beautiful blonde). With so much personal one on one time spent together the 2 eventually fall in love, and it is Phillip that one day, Kate spills her guts to and tells him the entire truth about her love for Danny. But Danny writes to Kate and tells her that he is getting married to Rosie, their next door neighbor who has always been in love with Danny and Kate. Kate is too jealous to go to the wedding and cannot bear the thought of it. We also know that Philip is married. But, its when there's a bomb, and they run into the corn fields to escape the air bomb that holding on to each other for dear life ... they end in passion!!! And so life continues while the 2 of them continue to hide their relationship from all around them.
One day the air base where Danny is currently stationed is closed down in order to re-cement the runways and he is stationed in Lincoln. Kate is desperate to talk to him and explain why she could not go to his wedding and beg for his forgiveness for her awful jealousy. But, of course they lay eyes on each other, but he's late in getting off on a massive airstrike ... and, it is his plane that never comes back, and they never find out what happened (so you believe that eventually he will come home). But, in the meantime she must grieve for not only his loss, but also her guilt for not having made amends before he dies, so she heads off home so that she can be the one to bear the news personally to Rosie and Beth. Rosie is pregnant, and Kate is there for the delivery. And, later after her return to the airbase, Phillip tells her the bad news that his daughter (who was severely handicapped at birth) is now on her deathbed and he must go back to help his wife, Grace through these hard times. He promises to come back to her. She decides that she can't tell him that she is pregnant with his child.
She goes home once again to tell her mom and Jonathan her situation (never telling who the father is) and her mother disowns her for her doing exactly what all her life she has told her daughter what not to do! Her Grandfather takes her away to his family homestead where she is shown the graves of his wife, his lover who had died in childbirth, and it is here we finally learn that her father had married Rebecca, but R not enjoying sex after marriage, ended up taking a 19 year old lover, got her pregnant,and then died. Meanwhile the baby (Esther) ended up being taken in by her sister Hannah but who clearly had no real time or love for Esther -- so never ever wanted to put a child into similar circumstances. So at last, Kate finally understands ...
So, exhiled in Lincoln, Kate moves back into her step grandparent's house (the dad now dead) where she now takes up the profession of making clothes (Remember that!), and it is there that she has the baby girl, who she names Danielle (Ella for short). One day she receives a telegram to come to the train station. She runs there, expecting to see Phillip ... but nope, its Danny who had crashed in enemy territory, broke his leg, and was eventually shipped back to England. They profess their undying sibling love, having always wished for more, and wish them both well and Phillip goes back, and they get on with their respective lives. A very blah blah ending ... but surely this is lead to the next book in the series????
Set in rural, poor, on the beach coast of Lincolnshire England (?) in 1926.
The book is very predictable. I felt it had so much potential but never fully develops any of the characters, or the scenes .. Except perhaps the very end (the last 50 odd pages), I knew what was going to happen. it almost feels like just when it's getting good - it jumps, and moves on to the next scene / saga and thus feel like its really lacking something, and I kept feeling like I wanted more ... almost there, but then, ugh.
The book starts with Kate (Katharine) just having learned that she is being sent away to boarding school. Her mother has remarried and she and her step father, Jonathan Godfrey have a new baby who is getting all of everyone's attention. She doesn't like the baby. To make matters worse, her very best friend, Danny, has just stopped going to school (as he is now of the age that he can work). When Danny stops going to school, this is also the time that she stops being allowed to seem him. There is clearly a reason (And have assumed that her mother must have had an affair with Danny's father?).
In an attempt to stop the developing relationship with her daughter’s lifelong friend, Danny Eland, Esther (Kate's mum) arranges for Kate to attend a boarding school in Lincoln, (not advised how we learn of the school, or how they can afford to send her there ... assume it must be the Godfrey family? Mr. Godfrey Sr. was the Deputy Head of the nearby Boys school.
The school is dreadful. On arrival the other girls make fun of her hand made clothes, and her un-schooled accent. At supper they are required to speak only French, which Kate knows none and is therefore forced to sit next to the strict Head of School. She is forced to eat the horrible food until she throws up. The kids are mean and tease her (turning off the light while she is having a bath, taking her favorite shell that Danny had once given her, which she had kept under her pillow). Because Kate is unable to keep her hair perfectly tidy in a straight braid, her hair grabbed and is cut off her with no warning. In her horror, frustration, she runs away from the school and takes sanctuary in the Cathedral. After evening mass she makes her way outside ... and not knowing where to go, in the now pouring rain, she tries to walk to her grandfather's house. She sleeps the first night in a barn, and then heads off, promptly getting lost, and getting sick she is picked up by a man in a horse and cart. As luck would have it, he knows her Granddad and takes her to his house, where she is looked after briefly by the neighbor until such time as Granddad comes home (it his here you get the 2nd hint ... you as the neighbor in her confusion notes that you never had a grandchild, and when it is explained that she's Esthers ... oh, the bastard?). Granddad then takes her home (sick & skinny) and Esther promises not to send her back to the school.
Of course, Kate starts seeing Danny again. However she promises her mother, that she and Danny are just friends, and that she will never never eve touch Danny (or any other boy) until she has a ring on her finger. Promises mean everything, and so of course mum trusts Kate and they continue their friendship, which over the next 4 years grows. They clearly are in love with each other and they promise to get married. On the eve of Kate's 18th birthday they agree to finally disclose their love for one another to their respective families ... and of course, we learn that they are indeed half brother/sister. Danny's mother (Beth) had been in love w/ Matthew. Matthew liked anything that walked in skirts. Kate's mum arrives in the town and Matthew starts to chase her. She won't have anything to do with him. He needing the chase eventually succumbs and begs him to marry her, which she does. He marries Kates' Mum & it is only later after they are wed they find out that Beth too is pregnant. Matthew goes off to war and dies. Beth and Esther hate each other - never have anything to do with each other (but are there for each other when there's a disaster!)
Kate, then leaves her home town and moves to the city where she finds a job in the fabric store, while learning to be a seamstress (copying her stepfather's mother). Some 13? years later, she decides she's had enough of the city and moves back to her home town ... where she is now able to have a friendship with Danny.
Its is now war time, and all the boats in the area have been sequestered by the British. Danny delivers his stepfather's boat, and Kate joins him. Upon delivery, Danny volunteers to drive his boat to the French coast to pick up stranded British and help bring them back to England. Kate joins (she will steel the boat, to allow Danny to help pick up the men off the beach). There they meet a boisterous commander, and 1 RAF who is almost dying. They manage to get them back into the 'battleship', but when the ship is blasted, Kate & Danny are thrown overboard and almost drown. They are rescued by the boisterous commander. While in hospital, Kate briefly meets the gorgeous blonde with amazing bright blue eyes RAF man that they rescued! (... assume she will eventually fall in love with him???). Following this, both Danny and Kate agree that they must enlist immediately after the Harvest: Danny-RAF; Kate-WAAF and they go off on their separate ways... Danny to the North, while Kate heads South.
She's in training for the WAAF and having been v. successful, she and her friend Mavis are sent to the barracks in Lincoln. Mavis are then joined by 2 more roommates ... and much to Kate's incredulous horror, none other than the horrific bitch from boarding school, Isabel Cartwright, who at first does not recognise Kate. It's clear that Isabel hasn't changed in her stuffy ways as the way in which she is seen to treat Edith Brownlow. But, after some time in living together, and Kate catching the rat running around in their bedroom does Isabel finally calm down and the 4 of them start to respect each other and their differences and become friends. Kate is specifially requested to be the CO's personal driver, and to her surprise, ... you guessed it ... who is none other than Phillip Trent (the beautiful blonde). With so much personal one on one time spent together the 2 eventually fall in love, and it is Phillip that one day, Kate spills her guts to and tells him the entire truth about her love for Danny. But Danny writes to Kate and tells her that he is getting married to Rosie, their next door neighbor who has always been in love with Danny and Kate. Kate is too jealous to go to the wedding and cannot bear the thought of it. We also know that Philip is married. But, its when there's a bomb, and they run into the corn fields to escape the air bomb that holding on to each other for dear life ... they end in passion!!! And so life continues while the 2 of them continue to hide their relationship from all around them.
One day the air base where Danny is currently stationed is closed down in order to re-cement the runways and he is stationed in Lincoln. Kate is desperate to talk to him and explain why she could not go to his wedding and beg for his forgiveness for her awful jealousy. But, of course they lay eyes on each other, but he's late in getting off on a massive airstrike ... and, it is his plane that never comes back, and they never find out what happened (so you believe that eventually he will come home). But, in the meantime she must grieve for not only his loss, but also her guilt for not having made amends before he dies, so she heads off home so that she can be the one to bear the news personally to Rosie and Beth. Rosie is pregnant, and Kate is there for the delivery. And, later after her return to the airbase, Phillip tells her the bad news that his daughter (who was severely handicapped at birth) is now on her deathbed and he must go back to help his wife, Grace through these hard times. He promises to come back to her. She decides that she can't tell him that she is pregnant with his child.
She goes home once again to tell her mom and Jonathan her situation (never telling who the father is) and her mother disowns her for her doing exactly what all her life she has told her daughter what not to do! Her Grandfather takes her away to his family homestead where she is shown the graves of his wife, his lover who had died in childbirth, and it is here we finally learn that her father had married Rebecca, but R not enjoying sex after marriage, ended up taking a 19 year old lover, got her pregnant,and then died. Meanwhile the baby (Esther) ended up being taken in by her sister Hannah but who clearly had no real time or love for Esther -- so never ever wanted to put a child into similar circumstances. So at last, Kate finally understands ...
So, exhiled in Lincoln, Kate moves back into her step grandparent's house (the dad now dead) where she now takes up the profession of making clothes (Remember that!), and it is there that she has the baby girl, who she names Danielle (Ella for short). One day she receives a telegram to come to the train station. She runs there, expecting to see Phillip ... but nope, its Danny who had crashed in enemy territory, broke his leg, and was eventually shipped back to England. They profess their undying sibling love, having always wished for more, and wish them both well and Phillip goes back, and they get on with their respective lives. A very blah blah ending ... but surely this is lead to the next book in the series????
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2018
نمی شود نوشته های این خانم را دوست نداشت. حتی با وجود بیداد سانسور چاپ کتاب در کشور من
July 29, 2016
This is the second in the Fleethaven Point series of novels by Margaret Dickinson and takes up the story with the young Kate Hilton. In an attempt to stop the developing relationship with her daughter’s lifelong friend, Danny Eland, Esther arranges for Kate to attend a boarding school in Lincoln, which ends only when Kate runs away. By the time Kate and Danny are eighteen they have declared their love for each other and it is only when telling their parents, that they learn the truth, that they can never marry. With the onset of WWII, Kate joins the WAAF and it is only through this experience that Kate and Danny finally accept their fate and move on to a new love and a new life. I found this an incredibly moving story and the anguish of the young couple is plain on every page. The research is meticulous and paints a vivid picture not only of life in the services but for those remaining behind.
October 22, 2013
Since I read Plough the Furrow, I had to read the second part of the trilogy though each book is complete by itself.
The second book goes to the next generation and its like history repeats itself. Kate the child of strong willed Esther goes through an action filled childhood, falling into a doomed relationship , painful pure , living with her mom and step dad , going through lifes up and down, living through world war 2 falling in love and coming back to her roots. One can imagine the horror of war , the bravery , the pain of love and parting through her writing.
The second book goes to the next generation and its like history repeats itself. Kate the child of strong willed Esther goes through an action filled childhood, falling into a doomed relationship , painful pure , living with her mom and step dad , going through lifes up and down, living through world war 2 falling in love and coming back to her roots. One can imagine the horror of war , the bravery , the pain of love and parting through her writing.
May 14, 2017
wow! really enjoyed this! likeable characters from the start, although I guessed the mystery but nevermind! i didn't realise this was the second book in a trilogy so will be reading them in the wrong order!
April 21, 2018
Beautiful book,Margaret Dickinson make me cry all the time.First the Tulip girl and now Sow The Seed.I loved it....................................
But questions remains
What happened to Philip Trent?
What will she do with the baby?
Will he write to her again?
She kept on the verge/........
But questions remains
What happened to Philip Trent?
What will she do with the baby?
Will he write to her again?
She kept on the verge/........
November 2, 2015
Rather less predictable than the first book in the series ('Plough The Furrow'), and with a storyline which both tugs at the heartstrings and keeps you guessing; roll on book 3
October 6, 2022
1926 in England and Kate Hilton, a 12-year-old girl is told she is being sent away to boarding school. She does not want to leave her home and her best friend, Danny. She discovers her mother Esther, is intent on separating her from Danny and is constantly telling her not to associate with him.
Kate finds conditions at Boarding school intolerable and runs away. When she is finally found, she is wet, cold and close to pneumonia, she is taken to her grandfather's place and he returns her home. There is a secret regarding whether he is her true grandfather, but no one will tell her the truth. When she is coming to her 18th birthday, Danny and Kate want to share the news their intent to marry. Finally, the truth comes out and she learns she can never marry Danny. She leaves to return back to the town where she attended boarding school and stays with her stepfather's parents. There she learns to become a seamstress. When war breaks out, she joins the WAAF and becomes a driver. It is only during the war years that both Kate and Danny finally find love and are able to move on from their childhood dream.
An interesting story but I couldn't help wonder why her mother didn't tell her the truth years earlier instead of keeping it a secret. It would have made Kate and Danny's lives a lot easier. Everyone seems to be keeping secrets in this book!
I enjoyed the part where Kate and Danny were involved in the evacuation at Dunkirk.
Kate found boarding school intolerable but how many other young British children, many younger than Kate had the same problem? Most of those kids had to tough it out. I'm certainly glad I was never in their shoes!
Kate finds conditions at Boarding school intolerable and runs away. When she is finally found, she is wet, cold and close to pneumonia, she is taken to her grandfather's place and he returns her home. There is a secret regarding whether he is her true grandfather, but no one will tell her the truth. When she is coming to her 18th birthday, Danny and Kate want to share the news their intent to marry. Finally, the truth comes out and she learns she can never marry Danny. She leaves to return back to the town where she attended boarding school and stays with her stepfather's parents. There she learns to become a seamstress. When war breaks out, she joins the WAAF and becomes a driver. It is only during the war years that both Kate and Danny finally find love and are able to move on from their childhood dream.
An interesting story but I couldn't help wonder why her mother didn't tell her the truth years earlier instead of keeping it a secret. It would have made Kate and Danny's lives a lot easier. Everyone seems to be keeping secrets in this book!
I enjoyed the part where Kate and Danny were involved in the evacuation at Dunkirk.
Kate found boarding school intolerable but how many other young British children, many younger than Kate had the same problem? Most of those kids had to tough it out. I'm certainly glad I was never in their shoes!
April 20, 2019
3.5 follow up to first book. ''Plough the Furrow''... Kate and Danny finally discover why Esther, Kate's Mom does not want them dating. when WWII starts Danny joins the RAF, Kate WAAF. she makes friends with some women, one who was a nemesis at boarding school. Kate finds romance although pines for Danny constantly.(this is where I rolled my eyes...Kate approaches commanding officers and walks onto an airfield and ask if they have seen Danny?) otherwise it was a pretty good story. I will read the final in this trilogy as I am interested to see what happens with Kate. ~
February 12, 2021
The second book goes to the next generation kate life through world war II ,falling into a doomed relationship , painful pure love and his falling in love again and the all drama was so so great and heartbreaking I loved this book, i cried a lot with it more a lot with 3book ,
June 14, 2021
Very good
I wish I had read the first book in this series, I really enjoyed the second, what a wonderful storyteller Margaret Dickinson is, her books are all different but hold the interest of the reader to the end.
I wish I had read the first book in this series, I really enjoyed the second, what a wonderful storyteller Margaret Dickinson is, her books are all different but hold the interest of the reader to the end.
September 3, 2022
A wonderful story
December 14, 2022
این قسمت داستان درباره دختر استر یعنی کیت هست
February 8, 2025
Very engrossing
July 7, 2025
Quick and easy read
December 20, 2021
This is the second book in a series, which I wasn’t aware of, but it can be read as a stand alone.
Sow the Seed follows the story of Kate, starting in 1926 when she’s almost fourteen years old then jumping to the early war years and her time as a WAAF.
I can’t tell if it was predictable or if I’m just getting really good at guessing what is going to happen. There was a lot of turmoil and heartbreak in this book and I really enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for bitter-sweet (though, to be honest, I was hoping Kate would hold her grudges for longer - what can I say? I thrive from chaos!)
I’ll defo be checking out the other books in the series.
Sow the Seed follows the story of Kate, starting in 1926 when she’s almost fourteen years old then jumping to the early war years and her time as a WAAF.
I can’t tell if it was predictable or if I’m just getting really good at guessing what is going to happen. There was a lot of turmoil and heartbreak in this book and I really enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for bitter-sweet (though, to be honest, I was hoping Kate would hold her grudges for longer - what can I say? I thrive from chaos!)
I’ll defo be checking out the other books in the series.
April 19, 2020
Loved the 2nd book! Glad Kate came home from boarding school and did things her way by joining the WAAFs and seeing her relationship develop with Peggy/Jonathan's family. The situation between Danny and Kate was quite heartbreaking at times, and I felt annoyed that they hadn't been told the truth much sooner but there's happier times for Kate finally! Couldn't wait to start the 3rd book after reading this one.
March 5, 2024
Didn’t like Esther in the first book. Hate her in this one. Also, didn’t like the ending at all. Every character but Kate had their happy ending and unlike Esther, Kate did really deserved to be happy and so much more. So sad this was her fate
January 23, 2017
Did NOT like the ending.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews