The Tiller Trotter Trilogy Series by Catherine Cookson

Tilly Trotter isn't like the other girls in the villages of County Durham. Tall and coltish, she's not afraid of taking on 'man's work' to help out the grandparents who raised her. There's an unusual beauty to her too - a beauty that's envied by the local women and lusted after by the men. But for all the attention Tilly only loves one man, farmer Simon Bentwood, and she's heartbroken to discover that he's betrothed to another. But there are even harder times ahead for Tilly... moreTilly Trotter isn't like the other girls in the villages of County Durham. Tall and coltish, she's not afraid of taking on 'man's work' to help out the grandparents who raised her. There's an unusual beauty to her too - a beauty that's envied by the local women and lusted after by the men. But for all the attention Tilly only loves one man, farmer Simon Bentwood, and she's heartbroken to discover that he's betrothed to another. But there are even harder times ahead for Tilly. A spurned suitor takes a terrible revenge. Idle gossip brands her a witch. A betrayal forces her into the cruel drudgery of the local mine and puts her life in danger. But Tilly refuses to let her spirit be broken - determined that all this will serve only to make her stronger... less

Beautiful and bewitching Tilly Trotter has served Mark Sopwith devotedly for twelve years--his wife in all but name.  But now his is dead and Tilly's whole future at Highfield Manor looks uncertain. Four months pregnant with Mark's child, Tilly's predicament is worsened by the hostility of his oldest grown-up child, Jessie Ann, who is determined to have Tilly banished from the Manor.. moreBeautiful and bewitching Tilly Trotter has served Mark Sopwith devotedly for twelve years--his wife in all but name.  But now his is dead and Tilly's whole future at Highfield Manor looks uncertain. Four months pregnant with Mark's child, Tilly's predicament is worsened by the hostility of his oldest grown-up child, Jessie Ann, who is determined to have Tilly banished from the Manor... No stranger to hardship and trouble, brave and young Matilda is destined to leave her native Tyneside for a strange and distant land--following her heart to America, where great peril awaits her... From the Paperback edition. less