These five family sagas are set in the Birmingham area in the 1920s and 30s.
All these novels are now available as ebooks from:
Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony, Diesel, Kobo, Apple, and W H Smith.
* = also in large print; + = also on audio tape
The Cobweb Cage *
Ebook from: W H Smith, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Diesel, Smashwords, Amazon
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Life is grim in the Staffordshire colliery town for Marigold Smith and
her sisters, and when she has the chance to go into service in Oxford,
she welcomes it.
- There she meets and falls in love with the wealthy Richard Endersby, but their happiness is destroyed when the Great War separates them. Her family's problems force Marigold into making heartrending choices, but she fights to help them survive, and to keep her hope alive.
Reviews of The Cobweb Cage
- 'A riveting, pacy read' - Emma Blair
- 'The Cobweb Cage is very atmospheric and the intriguing story never falters. This is a story that won't let you go, filled with people and places you recognise with your inner eye, and situations that are at once familiar and surprising' - Susan Sallis
- 'I enjoyed this well-researched book immensely - ideal escapism on a cold wet day' - Anita Burgh
- 'An absorbing family saga with a splendid cast of characters' - Annabel magazine
- 'I hope a sequel is planned' - SWWJ
- Michael Joseph hardback 1994. Signet paperback 1995. Magna large print 1995. Reprinted by Pan 2000 and Myriad 2003
- © 1994-2003 Marina Oliver
- Ebooks 2011: Amazon ISBN 9780953067671. Smashwords ISBN 9781465959157
- Ebook Cover design by Debbie Oliver. Copyright © 2011 Marina Oliver
Read an Extract Now.
The Glowing Hours *
Ebook from: W H Smith, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Diesel, Smashwords, Amazon
Three girls, longing to escape, become friends as they dance their way
onto the 1920s music-hall stages. There is Nell fleeing from her brutal
father in the slums of Ladywood, Gwyneth who has escaped from the
narrow-minded Welsh preacher, and Kitty who is bored with the propriety
of her upper-class home in Edgbaston. From Birmingham and the
surrounding towns they dream of Paris and the Folies-Bergère.
Struggling against threats from their families, distracted by Paul
Mandeville, a charismatic doctor, the languid Hon. Timothy Travers, and
Kitty's saxophonist cousin Andrew, the girls fight to achieve their
dreams.
Reviews of The Glowing Hours
- 'A lovely regional saga set in the 1920s Midlands which tells the story of three very different women.' - Sarah Broadhurst, Bracknell and Wokingham News Extra.
- 'We get the early music hall days interlaced with intriguing relationships, humnan drama, bags of ambition and a colourful plot.' - The News, Portsmouth.
- 'Both The Cobweb Cage and The Glowing Hours make compulsive reading.' - Select Magazine.
- Michael Joseph hardback 1995. Signet paperback 1996. Magna large print 1996. Reprinted by Pan 2000 and Myriad 2003
- © 1995-2003 Marina Oliver
- Ebooks 2011: Amazon ISBN 9780953067688. Smashwords ISBN 9781465866974
- Ebook Cover design by Debbie Oliver. Copyright © 2011 Marina Oliver
Read an Extract Now.
The Golden Road *
Ebook from: W H Smith, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Diesel, Smashwords, Amazon
Josie Shaw rejects marriage as a way of rescuing her and her mother
from the debts left by her stepfather. It's the 1930s and she wants a
career. She persuades her step-brother Leo to employ her in his
Birmingham jewellery factory, and is also introduced to the world of
motor rallies and the Monte Carlo dream.
Her world collapses when she is falsely
accused of theft, and she struggles to overcome poverty to provide for
her sick mother and herself.
Reviews of The Golden Road
- 'Thanks to an absorbing background peopled by believable and sympathetic characters this is a book increasingly difficult to put down. Reaching the end is like saying goodbye to old friends.' - Jean Ellis, Bradford Telegraph and Argus.
- 'Marina Oliver has written two superb period sagas set in Birmingham in the 20s and 30s The Golden Road and The Glowing Hours and the characters are so real that you really care about them.' - Peterborough Evening Telegraph.
- Michael Joseph hardback 1996. Magna large print 1997. Reprinted by Pan 2000
- © 1996-2000 Marina Oliver
- Ebooks 2011: Amazon ISBN 9780953067695. Smashwords ISBN 9781465872760
- Ebook Cover design by Debbie Oliver. Copyright © 2011 Marina Oliver
Read an Extract Now.
And TWO more Midlands sagas -
A Stratford Jewel
Ebook from: W H Smith, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Diesel, Smashwords, Amazon
In 1926 the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon burnt down, barely five weeks before the start of the annual Festival. Rosa Greenwood and her sister Celia were devastated. They had small roles in the Festival, hoping it would lead to acting careers.
- While helping to remove priceless treasures from the theatre Library Rosa met Max Higham, an American architect in Europe studying theatre design. He stayed to help when the Festival plays were performed in the converted Picture House, which became the Temporary Theatre for six years while a new design for a replacement Memorial Theatre was sought, and then built.
- Rosa was wary of her growing attraction to Max, yet reluctant to marry Adam Thorn, a lifelong friend and distant cousin. There was no future with Max, who kissed her and left her to return to Virginia and the girl his family expected him to marry.
- Celia was encouraged to run away to London and audition, by the actor Gilbert Meadows, and begs the help of her friend Agnes.
- Furious, her father forbad Rosa to contemplate more acting, while Jack, her older brother who was a changed person since he fought in the war, spends his days driving waggons for the family carrier business. Can any of them achieve their hearts' desires?
- Ebooks from: Amazon. and Smashwords
- Cover design by Debbie Oliver. Copyright © 2011 Marina Oliver
Read an Extract Now.
Can Dreams Come True?
Ebook from:
W H Smith,
Barnes & Noble,
Apple,
Sony,
Diesel,
Smashwords,
Amazon
- Kate wins a scholarship to a prestigious Edgbaston school, and meets wealthy people.
- Robert offers her a ride in his motor car, and to take her flying. Kate's heroine is Amy Johnson, and she is ecstatic.
- Her parents object, and Alf attacks Robert. She is expelled, and with no job, Kate's prospects grow worse when Alf is killed and Hattie becomes unstable.
- Kate struggles to support them, but more disasters strike. Will her dream of flying ever come true?
- Ebooks 2011: Smashwords ISBN 9781466057258 Amazon
- Copyright © 2011 Marina Oliver. Ebook cover design by Debbie Oliver
