1918. Young Lady Helen Barstairs, the dutiful daughter of Lord Hardingham, believes everything her mother and father tell her. So when her parents say she will never find a better husband than Richard - 'brave, handsome, wealthy, such a charming man and quite a catch' - she believes them, and agrees to marry him before his return to the Front. Helen hopes the letters they exchange will allow them to get to know one another but over time, Richard's correspondence becomes increasingly cold and distant, and Helen begins to wonder just who this man she has married really is. And that's when Oliver Donovan enters her life.Helen knew embarking on an affair was not a wise decision but, for the first time in her life, Helen knew what it felt like to be in love. With the war continuing on foreign shores, Oliver had to return to his regiment - and was never seen again. Learning she is with child, Helen confesses all to her shocked parents, who force her to give up her baby. She vows to find her child again one day. Over twenty years pass and it seems history is about to repeat itself; a new war has begun, and another young woman is about to lose her heart to a serviceman - Can lessons of the past save the heartache of a new generation?
Mary Nichols is a well-established novelist who writes in two different genres, family sagas for Allison & Busby and historical romance for Mills & Boon. She is the author of the best selling saga, The Summer House which was on the long list for the Romantic Novelists Association Romantic Novel of the Year award 2009 and is still selling strongly. Others are The Fountain and The Kirilov Star, both published in print and as ebooks.
Of the thirty-plus books she has written for Mills & Boon most are Regency, but others have backgrounds taken from the English Civil War right through to Victorian times. The most recent form a series of linked books about crime in Georgian Society and how it was dealt with by a group of aristocratic gentlemen who fall in love while doing it. They are: The Captain's Mysterious Lady, (short listed for the Romantic Novelists' Association Love Story of the Year award 2010), The Viscount's Unconventional Bride, Lord Portman's Troublesome Wife and Sir Ashley's Mettlesome Match. These, including some of her backlist, have also been published as ebooks.
Mary Nichols is also the author of The Mother of Necton, a biography of her grandmother who was a village nurse and midwife from the early years of the 20th century until the formation of the National Health Service in 1948. It is out of print in its original hardback form published by Breedon Books in 2000, but has been updated and re-issued in paperback by The Larks Press.
You can learn more about these books and more by visiting her website at www.marynichols.co.uk
