All the Dear Faces

Ambitions #2

by Audrey Howard

First winner of the Boots Romantic Novel of the Year Award (1988). At the centre of this story are three young women to whom life seems to offer every opportunity during the early years of the twentieth century.. Ambitious Mara O'Shaughnessy seizes her chance to marry James Osborne, heir to Lacy Hemingway Osborne's fortune...Caitlin O'Shaughnessy - Mara's sister - risks her death for women's rights, spurning the man who loves her...Dutiful Elizabeth Osborne, Lacy's granddaughter, must choose between the man everyone expects her to marry and her secret passion for her brother-in law...All three women seem set for happiness - until World War I shatters their lives.

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical Fiction

602 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Audrey Howard was born on 1929 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK, and grew up in St Annes on Sea, Lancashire, where she lives in her childhood home.

Before she began to write she had a variety of jobs, among them hairdresser, model, shop assistant, cleaner and civil servant. In 1981, while living in Australia, she wrote the first of her bestselling novels published since 1984. In 1988, her novel The Juniper Bush won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow - Why haven't I heard of Audrey Howard before? She writes so so well and her characters are so realistic and even complex. The story telling is rich with detail and historical context. This was definitely historical fiction and not historical romance. It was really more about the changes in society in the early 1900's and how all the youth of every class were breaking free of the restrictive rules their parents grew up with and the book really addresses the pain that causes for their mothers, as they watch their children make "unacceptable" choices. The main characters were compelling, and I loved their stories, although they kept making some really bad choices - all the choices were in line with their characters personalities and desires. It was very realistic. The ending is definitely not a romance genre ending. It ends happily for some and not happily for others. I learned a lot about the history of the time while reading this. Very very worth reading. It did have more sexual content than I like or expected, and I don't give 5 stars to books where I didn't love the ending, no matter how well written.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double post!

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review taken from my Blog Post #143 in July 2011, after I borrowed the sequel for Ambitions from the local library:

The 3 Star sequel to Ambitions. What was a bit disappointing about this one is that it missed a generation .... and we were left wondering about the early life of Sean (James) Osbourne and his marriage to the cold Serena.

However, the story of Lacy's grandchildren - Elizabeth who marries Sir Harry Woodall and James who marries Irish lovely Mara O'Shaunassey ....... plus thrown also into the mix is the passion between Elizabeth of Mara's brother. The disappointing aspect of this tale is the fact that it simply just ended in a most unsatisfactory way .... it's as if the author simply gives up, or is told to cut some of the story off .... maybe she intends to write a sequel ... who knows?

[Jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Went through a phase of reading a lot of her books, some more memorable than others. I love the detail of the history surrounding the books. The mills up in the north of England that was fascinating.

[Roz · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent historical novel covering two upper class English families pre and post WWI and their loves and sorrows before during and after the war. I thoroughly enjoyed this book although it is quite long

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last of the wonderful trilogy which starts with Ambitions.