Few convicts returned to England but Molly Morgan was one who did.
She lived in a Shropshire village, first as a maid to a wealthy farmer then with her husband William, who was somewhat light-fingered.
He escaped when they were accused of the theft of flax from a drying field, but Molly was tried and sentenced to transportation.
She went with the Second Fleet and survived being on the Neptune, the worst ever ship to carry convicts to New South Wales. Many of the convicts died or were too weak on arrival to walk.
Molly found a protector on the ship, and another for whom she worked on land. After a few years she persuaded an American Whaling ship captain to hide her and take her back to England, where she lived in London and worked as a seamstress until she married a Plymouth whitesmith.
They quarrelled and she went back to London where she was accused of more theft and again transported.
After a while and the accusation of stealing Government cattle, she began farming in the Hunter Valley and opened taverns. She became wealthy, known for giving help to convicts and support for charities. At the age of sixty she married a man of one and thirty.
She was named the Queen of Hunter Valley.
Ebooks 2016 Smashwords ISBN 9781311568649, 2016 Amazon, 2021 Belgrave House ISBN 9781947812383
It is the turbulent thirteenth century and Henry III is facing rebellion by Simon de Montfort.
Eva, more concerned with her own fate, is plotting how to make her father agree to her marriage with her cousin Gilbert when she is told she is to marry the rich and influential Sir Piers de Granfort.
Gilbert is poor but they try to escape. These attempts all fail, to Eva's fury and despair, and she finally meets Sir Piers who is not so old as she expected.
She also meets the lovely widow whose eldest son is named Piers, and who looks remarkably like Sir Piers. What are they to one another? And why, if they are in love, do they not marry?
Taken to her new home Eva tries to solve these puzzles.
Bella is terrified when the gross Henry VIII begins to pay her attentions. He is looking for a sixth wife who can give him sons.
Bella's brother Thomas can see only the advantages as potential Regent for a future boy king, and her Spanish cousin Pedro, who wants to marry her, thinks only of the advantages for Spain with a half-Spanish Queen on the throne.
She flees from the Court with her unhappy friend Amy, but is pursued by the handsome French Comte de Nerac, who offers to help her.
Can she trust him? Will he betray her to Henry's vengeance and the men the King has sent after her?
Previously published under the pseudonym Livvy West Dales 1995 ISBN 1853895873
Bella is forced by her illegitimate half brother Henry to marry the abusive Edward who is
emigrating to the new settlement in Virginia.
After a brutal wedding night she escapes, but Henry finds her and forces her to sail on the next ship.
While caring for her sick baby brother Toby and his nurse Alice she is helped by Adam, a
wealthy settler already established on a James River plantation, and they fall in love.
In Jamestown, however, Edward, by threatening Toby forces Bella to go with him to his own recently acquired plantation.
Can she ever escape from his cruel domination?
Previously published as Forbiddeen Love under the pseudonym Donna Hunt Macdonald 1981 ISBN 0708821316
Macdonald 1982 ISBN 0356085139 Ulverscroft 1991 ISBN 0708924816
Elinor is bored with her quiet life in Norfolk with her aunt and uncle, waiting until she can marry Francis, a captain in George I's army.
Though she looks forward to the marriage she worries about the probable disapproval of her brother Kit.
If, that is, he is still alive. He has been fighting for the Jacobites, now defeated and driven from the country. Kit, however, has not been heard of and could be dead, perished on the battlefield. Either that or he is now a fugitive.
When a mysterious stranger arrives claiming he carries messages from Kit she dare not believe him, especially as he says Kit wants her to go with him to France.
Saying he has promised Kit to bring her Sir Talbot Carr carries her off, and they find the journey far from easy.
Clarinda Middlewick's friendship with Sarah, an orphan heiress, is encouraged by her father, a wealthy merchant.
He hopes to marry Clarinda into the gentry but she rebels when he receives an offer from Lord Tarbuck, whose daughter is several years older than Clarinda.
Her only refuge is her grandmother who runs a guest house in Harrogate Spa, and with Sarah's help she escapes from her home.
Held up by a highwayman whose actions they find extremely odd, they are forced to aid him, and the girls find adventure before they can reach Harrogate.
Catriona's father is lost at sea and her mother loses the will to live, leaving her with her Uncle who wants to marry her to a much older, stern newcomer.
Cat is determined to escape and does so with the help of her cousin. But she needs to hide from them all until she can go to her father's Dutch family in Amsterdam.
Expert in fabric printing and making her own dyes, she persuades Rory Napier, struggling to manage his uncle's linen manufacturing in Glasgow, to employ her to supervise the new processes.
Though she is successful their relationship is stormy. Can they succeed despite the problems and the rivalries?
Janet Mackay dislikes all Englishmen, especially the Marquess of Sutherland who intends to evict them from their croft to make way for sheep. So when handsome Alastair Fenton arrives she is far from friendly.
Then, after they are made to leave their croft her grandmother Mary dies.
Janet is free to go to Canada to join her brother who fled after the Jacobite rebellion in 1745.
On the journey to Glasgow, however, disaster strikes. Janet has to accept Alastair's help, unwilling to turn to her old friend Murdo who wants to marry her.
Previously published under the pseudonym Livvy West Ulverscroft 2004 1843955946
Large Print Linford 2005 ISBN 9781843955948
When the Marquess of Stafford wants to clear his land of crofters to make way for sheep, Jamie and Flora Lennox, with their baby daughter, decide to go to Nova Scotia to start a new life.
As tacksman Jamie feels responsible for the people of his glen, and helps those who wish to go to Glasgow, either to seek work there or emigrate.
The leaving of the glen is heart-rending, and soon more disasters strike.
Can they survive in this new, raw land? Will they find happiness in their new lives?
London 1906. Livvy faces several battles. Patients will not accept her as a 'proper' doctor. Politicians will not grant votes to women.
Livvy is ejected from a 1906 election meeting for daring to ask the candidate, Sir James Dunstone, if he supports votes for women. Meeting him socially she is both attracted to him and frustrated by his patronising views of women's abilities.
But she can never marry Sir James while their beliefs are so different. He thinks letting women vote is wrong and would never consider allowing a wife to work.
Sir James is surprised to discover Livvy is a qualified doctor, and horrified she risks infection by treating poor people living near the docks. Though he comes to admire her mind and to enjoy discussing many political issues with her there seems no way their views can ever be reconciled. Can there be any meeting between their minds?
Few convicts returned to England but Molly Morgan was one who did.
It is the turbulent thirteenth century and Henry III is facing rebellion by Simon de Montfort.
Bella is terrified when the gross Henry VIII begins to pay her attentions. He is looking for a sixth wife who can give him sons.
Bella is forced by her illegitimate half brother Henry to marry the abusive Edward who is
emigrating to the new settlement in Virginia.
Elinor is bored with her quiet life in Norfolk with her aunt and uncle, waiting until she can marry Francis, a captain in George I's army.
Clarinda Middlewick's friendship with Sarah, an orphan heiress, is encouraged by her father, a wealthy merchant.
Catriona's father is lost at sea and her mother loses the will to live, leaving her with her Uncle who wants to marry her to a much older, stern newcomer.
Janet Mackay dislikes all Englishmen, especially the Marquess of Sutherland who intends to evict them from their croft to make way for sheep. So when handsome Alastair Fenton arrives she is far from friendly.
When the Marquess of Stafford wants to clear his land of crofters to make way for sheep, Jamie and Flora Lennox, with their baby daughter, decide to go to Nova Scotia to start a new life.
London 1906. Livvy faces several battles. Patients will not accept her as a 'proper' doctor. Politicians will not grant votes to women.
