In the Swansea of the fifties, there is only one thing for a boy to do when he gets a girl 'into trouble' and that is to marry her - and quickly. Blighted by an unhappy childhood, passionately in love for the first time in his life, Jack can't wait to do 'the right thing'. A happy family of his own is all he ever wanted but not even in his wildest dreams did he envisage a wife like Helen. Beautiful, intelligent and loving, Helen is headstrong enough to defy her family and convention for Jack and, when her father gives them his blessing, their future beckons assured and glittering - until tragedy strikes and tears them apart.
CATRIN COLLIER/KATHERINE JOHN/CARO FRENCH/KATHERINE HARDY -
My most bemused moment. When someone commented, "It will be wonderful for Pontypridd when you die." (Many of my novels are set in the town)
My best "putting in place moment". When someone joined a queue at a signing session in Waterstones and waited ten minutes to say, "I don't want a book, love, but as you're here for two hours, look after my shopping for me." - I did.
My proudest moment, when I discovered my Catrin Collier novel, One Last Summer, based on my Prussian born mother's wartime diaries was named recommended reading for adults by the Holocaust Day Memorial Trust.
My new novel, Bobby's Girl, set in America during in 1968 - the era of the anti-Vietnam War and, Civil Rights movements and student protests will be published in the autumn of 2011.
