This week I’m taking a snippet from one of my older books, Remnants of Dreams
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Remnants of Dreams begins in North London with
Alicia's story. It is 1914, just at the beginning of WW1. Alicia is left with a
child when her first love is killed. She eventually marries Matt and they have
another nine children. This is the story
of a changing world, and takes us through two world wars, following the loves
and heartaches of a large family battling extreme poverty. But despite this
they are rich in the things that matter--love and pride.
Previously published
as Traces of Dreams this book won the
Romance Writers of Australia’s Mainstream Romantic Book of the Year in 2003
This excerpt
is taken from Part Two, featuring Sara, Alicia's headstrong daughter
1941
How Sara despised the war. If not for
the war their dad, a giant among men, would still be with them. She hated the
munitions factory where she was forced to work. Sometimes she even hated their
mum, who'd never understood her, and had withdrawn into a circle of grief none
of them could penetrate.
Sara knew their mum often accredited
her with liking boys too much. Perhaps it was true. But it wasn't her fault
they had always been attracted to her.
How she longed to be back in the
salon, instead of stuck in this stinking hole of a factory with its deafening
noise that threatened to split the eardrums. Daisy hated the men in the
factory. They were the dregs; too young or old to be called up. Jane never
spared them the time of day. But for Sara they helped alleviate the boredom
that was enough to drive her insane. The older men were having a field day
while all the young chaps were away in the services.
"How can you stand talking to
him," Jane asked with disdain when Sara had been chatting to Dennis Webster,
one of the foremen. "He’s a dirty old man."
"Dennis is only twenty years
older than me, and he's not dirty. Anyway, I like mature men," Sara
retorted. That wasn't strictly true, but getting a rise out of her sisters was
just another way to pass the time.
"Humph, old enough to be your
father. Mum's right about you, Sara. One day you'll end up in a real pickle,
the way you carry on," Daisy scolded.
Sara shrugged and let her mind
wander. It was the only way she could make it through the day at the plant
without dying of boredom. Dennis was the only presentable man out of the bunch.
She wouldn't have spared him the time of day normally. She flirted with him,
for he wasn't bad looking. And he was nice to talk to.
Dennis felt guilty as hell about not
being in the forces. He'd failed the medical because of a bad back, but had a
way of laughing at his shortcomings that appealed to her.
Sara spent her days dreaming about
Stan Mayhew. She'd met him while he was working on his dad's stall at the
market, and fell in love with him on sight when she was sixteen and Stan
twenty. Sara could recall every minute of that day as if it happened yesterday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This book touched me
deeply. Perhaps that's because I was born in North London and the places and
people were familiar. I could not put it down. I can honestly say it is one of
the best in the genre I have read.”
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Please take a minute to hop on over
to these blogs for more snippets from Books We Love authors.
http://mizging.blogspot.com
(Ginger Simpson)
http://connievines.blogspot.com.au/
Connie Vines
http://yesterrdayrevisitedhere.blogspot.com/ Juliet Waldron
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My latest release: Kate’s Dilemma
Challenge the Heart Book 3
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