Lynne Francis

It's August 1917, and WW1 continues to take a toll. The villagers of Dorcalon try to keep hope alive, but every day brings fresh tragedy as more are killed on foreign battlefields. Elizabeth Meredith, daughter of mine manager Herbert, enjoys a privileged position in the village, but she longs to break free of society's expectations. Falling in love with miner Gwilym Owen brings more joy to her life than she's ever known...until she's forced to choose between her love and her disapproving family.

Before I started writing any of the books in the Mill Valley Girls trilogy, I’d been doing some family research of my own and was lucky enough to stumble across my family tree on Ancestry. A distant relative had already done all the hard work, uncovering several generations of my mother’s side of the family in Yorkshire, dating back to 1800.

Ella is trying to put the past behind her... but the past won't always stay hidden. The truth is, Ella is hiding from a scandal. A scandal that drove her family out of their beloved Lane End Cottage in the tiny Yorkshire village they had lived in all their lives. A scandal that her sister Alice was blamed for. But Alice is no longer here. So it's up to Ella to pick up the pieces and do the best she can for the family she loves so dearly.