31 July 2016

Sunday Snips and Stuff from Tricia McGill

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 Sometimes she even hated their mum, who'd never understood her, and had withdrawn into a circle of grief none of them could penetrate.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.
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 “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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Challenge the Heart Book 3
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