Daisy's Secret: A sweeping tale of friendship and second chances

Lakeland Sagas

by Freda Lightfoot

Daisy is devastated when her lover, Percy, abandons her and her mother throws her out, having first forced the girl to give up her baby son for adoption. She is evacuated to the Lake District, where she sets up a guest house with her black-sheep aunt. Daisy meets and falls in love with a young airman, Harry, but is afraid to tell him of her past, and the longer she keeps quiet, the harder it is to tell the truth. When Percy turns up holding a baby, Daisy is torn between her yearning to reclaim her son and her love for Harry.

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Born in Lancashire, I've been a teacher, bookseller and in a mad moment, a smallholder on the freezing fells of the Lake District where I tried my hand at the ‘good life’, kept sheep and hens, various orphaned cats and dogs, built drystone walls, planted a small wood and even learned how to make jam. I now spend the winter in Spain and summer in the UK. I have now published 48 books including many bestselling family sagas and historical novels.
For more information, visit my website www.fredalightfoot.co.uk.

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was set over 2 generations, I very much enjoyed reading the older generation stuff about what Daisy's secrets were but not so much the newer generation where they were trying to find out. I think the book could have worked as well if not better just set as a story based on Daisy's life from start to finish.

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the end of this book I had fallen in love with it but my only wish is that the narrative of Daisy's past had been written in Daisy's perspective all the way through.
It is because of the way that the novel changed perspectives and through the past and the present that I cannot give it 5 stars but I would still recommend this book to anyone.

[Shirley Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit that I wasn't too keen when I started this story. It felt a little flat and didn't grab me. I'm so pleased I stuck with it though as the storyline improved and gradually drew me in.

However, I must confess I'm not a fan of stories that keep going back in time. I found it annoying for it to continually switch from old to modern day, also confusing and frustrating. In my opinion this book would have benefitted from the story being told from start to finish.

It was excellently written especially with the broad local dialect. I'm not sure it was very consistent though, especially with Clem. One part I did find a bit strange was when Daisy went to stay with Florrie and Clem only to find that Florrie had gone to stay with her sister. Daisy then proceeded to make vast changes to the house to start a guest house. Would anyone do that in someone else's house without them there I wonder?

[Mollie Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. Hm. Hmm.

Not a fan. It was one of those that has been on my ever growing on my shelf. Truthfully I was disappointed. I found it hard to follow and it jumped around a lot. Maybe the audio book made it harder but even then it just wasn’t all that clear in keeping daisy’s secret. I just found the presentation of the book more messy that it should be. Maybe on the re read selection.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this final book in the saga
The story of hardship lost love and the love of her life coming back to here and how family lives were affected during and after the war An amazing read a must

[Rebecca Dickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but not really the end - seemed to finish rather abruptly

[Anne Mackle · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the author being Freda Lightfoot what's not to like? I was looking on my kindle for a book I could be drawn into straightaway and when I saw this one I knew it would fit the bill.
Part of the story is as above about Daisy and is set during WW2 it goes between her story and that of her granddaughter Laura who inherits Daisy's farmhouse after she dies. Laura has an overbearing husband and father to contend with as well as trying to find out as much as she can about her grandmother's life.
I loved both parts of the story both and felt quite sad that grandmother and granddaughter had never really shared any of their lives with each other.
I raced through this book as it was a really easy read, my only criticism would be Laura's love interest being the farmer who lived next door, I'm not giving anything way as the attraction between them was so instant and I can't imagine someone escaping from one long relationship from her husband straight into the arms of another man.
Daisy's secret is revealed at the end but the book did finish suddenly and I found myself reading the bonus chapter of the author's next book at the end thinking it was part of the story. Once again I feel sometimes authors end their book in a rush.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book of Freda's I have read. It left me wanting to read more of her work.

[Kay Wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saga of War and love, ending not too good.