Tyneside Sagas Series by Janet MacLeod Trotter

1905 INDIA: Clarissa Belhaven and her younger sister Olive find their carefree life on their father's tea plantation threatened by his drinking and debts. Wesley Robson, a brash young rival businessman, offers to help save the plantation in exchange for beautiful Clarrie's hand in marriage, but her father flatly refuses. And when Jock Belhaven dies suddenly, his daughters are forced to return to their father’s cousin in Tyneside and work long hours in his pub... more1905 INDIA: Clarissa Belhaven and her younger sister Olive find their carefree life on their father's tea plantation threatened by his drinking and debts. Wesley Robson, a brash young rival businessman, offers to help save the plantation in exchange for beautiful Clarrie's hand in marriage, but her father flatly refuses. And when Jock Belhaven dies suddenly, his daughters are forced to return to their father’s cousin in Tyneside and work long hours in his pub. In Newcastle, Clarrie is shocked by the dire poverty she witnesses, and dreams of opening her own tea room, which could be a safe haven for local women. To provide a living for herself and Olive, Clarrie escapes her dictatorial cousin Lily and takes a job as housekeeper for kindly lawyer Herbert Stock. But Herbert's vindictive son Bertie, jealous of Clarrie's popularity, is determined to bring about her downfall. Then Wesley Robson comes back into Clarrie's life, bringing with him a shocking revelation ... Set in the fascinating world of the Edwardian tea trade, THE TEA PLANTER’S DAUGHTER is a deeply involving and moving story with a wonderfully warm-hearted heroine. less

Maggie Beaton, unmarried and pregnant, gives birth in the workhouse. Her baby daughter is taken away, but Maggie finds the strength to struggle on, eventually finding the child who has given her life meaning.

Emmie Kelso is only nine years old when she is rescued from a dingy Gateshead tenement and sent to Crawdene for her health; taken in to the vibrant, loving household of the MacRaes, a radical mining family. Blossoming into a pretty, spirited young woman, Emmie is swept off her feet by handsome miner Tom Curran, but learns too late of his possessive, violent nature. As war engulfs Europe in 1914, Tom enlists but Emmie joins the MacRaes and others in their cries for peace... moreEmmie Kelso is only nine years old when she is rescued from a dingy Gateshead tenement and sent to Crawdene for her health; taken in to the vibrant, loving household of the MacRaes, a radical mining family. Blossoming into a pretty, spirited young woman, Emmie is swept off her feet by handsome miner Tom Curran, but learns too late of his possessive, violent nature. As war engulfs Europe in 1914, Tom enlists but Emmie joins the MacRaes and others in their cries for peace. Working alongside Rab, the MacRaes eldest son, their childhood devotion to each other sparks into a love too strong to hide. But when Rab is arrested as a conscientious objector and Emmie becomes an outcast in her own home, her ideals and love are put to the ultimate test, in this dramatic and heart-wrenching story.Set against the fascinating backdrop of the Great War, A Crimson Dawn is one of the gripping and impassioned Tyneside Sagas. less