Romance Anna Jacobs Collection

Cherry Tree Lane

Wiltshire, 1910. With her stepfather threatening her with a forced marriage, Mattie Willitt flees home in search of a better life. She is soon lost and at the mercy of the elements - until her life is saved by Jacob, a widower who takes her in. Finding consolation in each other's troubled pasts, the pair soon grow close.

 

Elm Tree Road

After being driven from home by their brutal father, the Willitt sisters, Mattie, Nell and Renie, find themselves facing greater heartache in the wider world.

 

Yew Tree Gardens

Sisters Mattie, Nell and Renie have all managed to escape from their oppressive and bullying father, but are now separated. They must draw upon their strength and courage to build new lives for themselves.

Renie, the youngest sister, is living with the newly married Nell. Renie is happy in her waitressing job at the local Rathleigh hotel. But a shadow falls over her the day Mr Judson arrives as assistant manager. Feeling increasingly threatened by him and also eager to esape from Nell's unpleasant husband, Renie is delighted when she is offered a new job in London.

Although she at first finds the city a huge and bewildering place, soon she is settling in and making friends. It seems as if her dreams have come true and she can have a future working in hotels.

And yet, she still worries about her sister Nell and the way her husband Cliff treats her. When tragedy strikes Nell and her family, Renie is left in London, helpless to contact her sister.

Her only comfort is her growing friendship with the injured Gil, towards whom she has felt an instant trust and affection. But can their relationship progress from friendship to something more. Then Judson returns into Nell's life and she finds herself in danger once again.

Can Gil help her to escape from Judson's attentions? And will she ever find her sisters again?

 

The Honeyfield Bequest

1901, Wiltshire. Young Kathleen Keller is being forced into marriage with a man she despises by her cruel father. In an act of desperation, she runs away in a bid for a safer life, although one she might not have otherwise have chosen. But when tragedy strikes, Kathleen is left vulnerable and one man threatens the fragile peace she has made for herself.

Meanwhile, Nathan Perry works for his father's accountancy firm but yearns for something more satisfying. He is brought in to help with the purchase of Honeyfield House, intended as a safe house for women in trouble by a charitable benefactor, and there encounters Kathleen. Their lives are set to intertwine and neither will be the same again.

 

A Stranger in Honeyfield

Bella’s fiancé is killed during WW1. Phillip was from of higher social class and at the funeral she’s scorned by his family. Even her own mother says no good ever came of a woman trying to marry someone so different.

Poor Bella feels she has no one to turn to, so finds war work and moves away from home. Then a lawyer contacts her because she’s been left something in Phillip’s will. Once again, her world is turned topsy-turvy. But the inheritance brings new problems and even dangers. Can she find her way through it and make a new life?

 

Peace Comes to Honeyfield

Armistice Day, London, 1918. Fiercely independent Georgie is tired of being told what’s best for her by men. When she defies her father’s wishes by going out into the peace festivities, she tries to help a woman being attacked and encounters Patrick, a gallant wounded ex-soldier looking for a new calling now that the fighting is done.

But the war isn’t over for everybody. Enemy forces have infiltrated the bureau and sent her father into hiding. And they are coming for her too. Georgie knows there’s only one place where she’ll be safe: Honeyfield. But there are traitors in the bureau and she doesn’t know who she can trust.

With Patrick in charge of her security detail, can she get to Honeyfield before her father’s enemies find her? And will she be reunited with her father, the only family she has left?

 

Peppercorn Street

Three women find new hope in Peppercorn Street, a small village in a beautiful corner of Wiltshire with a mixture of homes and people.Janey is 18 and living in a small flat with her baby daughter. Just as her new life starts to show promise, her past catches up with her. Nicole is renting one of the new luxury flats. She’s just walked away from her husband and teenage sons, tired of being treated as a servant, suspecting her husband of having an affair. Winifred has lived in her large family home at the top of the street for over eighty years but it’s all getting too much, though she doesn’t want to leave.Things are not what they seem in any of the three women’s lives and danger can strike at rich and poor alike. The trick is to survive it, and for this you need good friends and courage: all freely available in Peppercorn Street.

 

Cinnamon Gardens

Now that Nell’s three sons are in work and becoming more independent, she’s ready to build a new life for herself. She’s been left a house in England by an elderly aunt and decides to leave Australia to start a new chapter. On her arrival at Peppercorn Street, Nell encounters Angus Denning, a software engineer with an Honourable title and a stately home at the end of the road. Then there’s Winifred, an elderly lady who lives alone but has made friends with young, single mum Janey.

It’s not long before the quartet are firm friends and Nell has trouble resisting Angus’s charms. But life doesn’t always run smoothly; Winifred is being harassed by an estate agent to sell the only home she’s ever known to the Cinnamon Gardens development and Janey realises she and her daughter, Millie, are being stalked.

 

Saffron Lane

Nell feels very at home in her beautiful corner of Wiltshire with her partner Angus and her new friends nearby on Peppercorn Street. But the prospect of bringing life back into an abandoned row of houses, Saffron Lane, is just the challenge she needs.

Not far away, Stacy, coping with a shock divorce, and Elise, battling against forced residential care, are both trying to regain a sense of normalcy and begin a new chapter in their lives. On the other side of the world, Adam and his daughter Gemma are coming to terms with changes and discoveries that will set them on new paths.

Could it be that in all of their cases, the solutions to their problems and the answers to their questions wait for them at Saffron Lane?

 

Bay Tree Cottage

Saffron Lane was once a row of abandoned houses but is now bursting with new life, thanks to the efforts of owners Nell and Angus. Their plan to develop an artists’ colony is fast becoming a reality, as is their idea to transform the secret wartime messaging room in one of the houses into a museum.

Emil is in charge of readying the room for the public and, despite an interfering councilwoman, is determined to face his challenges head on. Even Ginger finds a place to call home in the fledgling community, taking refuge from her bully of a son. When she meets Iain, sparks fly between them and she finally feels alive again – but will her son succeed in spoiling her chance of happiness?

 

Christmas in Peppercorn Street

Christmas is approaching but the mood on Peppercorn Street is anything but jolly. Claire is convinced her stalker ex will catch up with her and her young daughter, and Luke is finding that living with his estranged teenage daughter brings its own problems. When a road accident brings them together, Luke impulsively offers them shelter in his home. Will this Christmas give them the best present of all: a new family? Or will Claire’s ex again cause trouble?

 

Farewell to Lancashire

Cassandra Blake has raised her three motherless sisters. The girls are the pride of their father Zachariah. When Lancashire's cotton supplies fail, due to the American Civil War, the mills fall silent and there's no work. There are stark choices: stay and risk starvation or pack up and begin again elsewhere. Cassandra has fallen in love with Reece Gregory. When he's given a chance to start a new life in Australia, he promises to send for her. Then an old feud tears the family apart. Cassandra is kidnapped and her sisters are forced to sail with a group of desperate cotton lasses to the Swan River Colony. Penniless and alone, Cassandra is determined to find them again - but there is a painful price to pay.

 

Beyond the Sunset

In the untamed outback of Western Australia, the Blake sisters are together again despite what seemed like unsurmountable odds.For Cassandra - reunited again with the man she loves - the Swan River Colony is a refuge that seems like a miracle after her ordeals. And two of her sisters have fallen in love with their new way of life. But then a messenger arrives from faraway England, and it is the fourth sister, Pandora, who jumps at the chance to make her way back to the Lancashire moors that she misses so badly. The way home, though, will be even harder than the voyage to Australia. The only ship that can take her and her new protector back to England lies many days' journey away, across country that would daunt even a hardened explorer. And when she reaches Outham, a devious, dangerous enemy will do anything to prevent her from taking charge of her family's inheritance . . .

 

Destiny's Path

Three Blake sisters remain in the Swan River Colony in 1866 and two are quite happy to forge new lives for themselves there. The third, Xanthe, yearns to see the world. But even if she could afford to travel, could she persuade her beloved twin to let her go? Maia has fallen in love with their employer, and would surely be happiest staying behind with him. Xanthe's opportunity comes in the form of a handsome Irishman bringing some of the sisters' inheritance from England. But for Maia, the same man brings trouble in his wake - someone who has the power to make her life a misery. Both sisters' reserves of courage and endurance will be tested before they can finally find a home to call their own.

 

A Place of Hope

A devastating accident is only the start of Emily Mattinson’s troubles . . . When Emily Mattison falls victim to a near-fatal accident shortly after receiving an unexpected inheritance from a distant cousin, her ruthless nephew George seizes the opportunity to take control of his aunt’s assets. It’s only when Emily reaches The Drover’s Hope, the former pub on the edge of the Lancashire moors, bequeathed to her by her late cousin Penelope, that she begins to feel safe. She also discovers that love can be found in the most unexpected places. But it’s not so easy to escape the clutches of someone as determined as George . . .

 

In Search of Hope

An unexpected inheritance offers Libby Pulford the opportunity to escape her abusive marriage and return to her Lancashire roots with her young son Ned. But her domineering husband Steven won't let her go so easily. Just as she's beginning to settle into her new life, Libby's troubled past catches up with her. The one person she can turn to for help is her new neighbour, former police detective Joss Atherton, to whom Libby feels a growing attraction. But Joss has troubles of his own.

In the meantime, Emily Mattison is enjoying new-found domestic happiness with her fiance Chad. The only blot on the horizon is the fact that she's been unable to make contact with the long-lost daughter she was forced to give up for adoption so many years before.

People's lives are destined to intertwine in ways they could never have imagined.

 

A Time for Hope

When Gabrielle Newman throws her cheating husband out, Stu cares more about the money than the break-up, getting more than his fair share from their house sale. An unexpected bequest offers Gabrielle a new start and she tries to leave the past behind, heading north with Dan Monahan, the private investigator sent to find her.

Meanwhile, Stu has got entangled with organized crime in Eastern Europe and is desperate to pay his gambling debts. Gabrielle needs Dan's help to protect herself and her inheritance. She's very attracted to Dan - but dare she trust any man again?

Then Stu tracks down his ex-wife and Gabrielle discovers just what the man she once loved is capable of, as her life is threatened. Can she and Dan find a way to stop Stu and his ruthless new friends?

 

Down Weaver's Lane

Anna Jacob's riveting new Lancashire saga introduces an unforgettable heroine.

Emmy Carter's mother is a prostitute - and her life has made Emmy determined to avoid the same fate. But Emmy is beautiful, so attracts unwanted attention; her mother's protector has his eye on her, as does evil Marcus Armistead, her employer's nephew. Marcus is excited by Emmy's virginity and has her kidnapped, but Emmy hits him over the head and escapes.

Marcus, further enraged, kills her mother and becomes even more determined to rape Emmy, but the combined efforts of the local parson and Emmy's young suitor manage to keep her safe from harm. Finally Emmy sees Marcus get his just desserts, finds out who her father was and attains the respectability she has so longed for.

 

Calico Road

Calico Road runs through a tiny Lancashire hamlet up on the edge of the moors, miles from anywhere. Its folk are an independent breed -- and in 1827 they are a thorn in the side of the vicious mill owner in the valley below. Toby Fletcher's father ignored his bastard son while alive. Now Toby is the new owner of the rambling old inn, an unwitting keeper of its secrets. Then Meg Staley comes to Calico, a woman who was strong enough to survive one tragedy, but found it harder to withstand a second blow. Toby finds her wandering the moors, cold and starving, and brings her back to the inn. Working there, Meg starts to rebuild her life and find a fragile happiness. But then the secrets of Calico Road come crashing down on her and those she has grown to love...

 

Winds of Change

An engrossing tale of new beginnings and second chances from an ever-popular author. Miranda Fox has devoted much of her life to caring for her elderly father. After his tragic death, she starts to make plans for her future, funded by the inheritance she is sure will be coming her way, but it seems her arrogant and domineering half-brother has very different ideas . . . Then a chance encounter with a man who has been given months to live boosts Miranda’s confidence, and as their friendship grows she finally learns to stand up for herself and her dreams. Can Miranda find the happiness that she deserves?