Sunday 30 December 2012

Amazon's twelve days of Christmas selection

This is one of the books selected by Amazon for their twelve days of Christmas promotion during the period 25th December to 6th January 2013
Now 99p reduction of £6 while promotion lasts.

Rosemary Palmer-Farr loves farming and animals and has spent much of her childhood at Bengairney Farm with her dearest friends, the Carafords. Now, as a young woman, she wants to prove herself a good businesswoman by running the gardens of her father's dwindling estate. Her mother, Catherine, is not impressed and wants her to secure a good marriage. She looks down on the Carafords because they are only tenant farmers. When childhood friendship deepens into love, Catherine takes action and extracts a promise from Sam Caraford calculated to keep the young couple apart. She throws Rosemary into the company of eligible young gentleman, but Rosemary despises their attitudes and yearns only for Sam's love.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Home-Love-Gwen-Kirkwood/dp/0709096305/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339768800&sr=8-1

Friday 21 December 2012

More bargains + Romy Gemmel's Mischief at Mulberry Manor

 Read about Rosemary's new novella at her blog below and available to buy on amazon co.uk and .com

http://ros-readingandwriting.blogspot.com
 I have already downloaded this book and I look forward to reading it over Christmas.

There is nothing I enjoy more than relaxing with some really engrossing books after the main celebrations at this time of year.


 Now for my own bargain quartet.
Here are the other two Fairlyden books with links to Amazon where they can be downloaded for 99p until 14th January 2013

Family at Fairlyden

In 1906, Beth Jamieson, is a little girl of eight, with honey gold curls, blue eyes and the sweetest nature. Her father is Mistress Fairly’s right-hand man and when Nick’s wife dies, Sarah Fairly treats Beth as her own.

Sarah’s daughter Sadie is jealous and does everything she can to prevent the growing relationship between the small girl and Logan, Sadie’s youngest brother: `She’s a labourer’s brat! She’ll never be mistress here! Never!’ she is heard to say. Yet, sharp tongued and vicious though she is, Sadie fails to stop the first childish closeness then, as the years roll by, the encompassing love that draws Logan and Beth together.
Throughout the country, the early years of the century are a time of social change: in London suffragettes chain themselves to railings and the Kaiser visits the King; in the Scottish borders, the Fairlys witness the first motor cars and increasing mechanization on the local farms, while on the far horizons dark clouds of war are massing.
Although Logan would rather breed cows and horses and stay with Beth at Fairlyden, he knows he must fight. As they take their leave beside the burn, one soft autumn day, the lovers cannot foresee the problems, the heartbreak and the joys which the future holds. Or who will inherit Fairlyden.
As the third volume in this magnificent Fairlyden quartet, The Family at Fairlyden takes up the moving love story of Beth and Logan while also chronicling the continuing saga of the Fairly family in this beautiful corner of rural Scotland.


Fairlyden at War  Book 4

It is the 1930’s with men desperate for work and food. Fairlyden has survived due to Logan’s skill and his wife’s thrift. Their daughter, Kirsty is proud of her father’s achievements but her brother, Luke is afraid of animals and his fear leads to tragedy.
James MacFarlane has spent his first twenty three years learning all he can from Logan Fairly at Fairlyden. So when he chooses to live with his great-uncle at Nithanvale, the Fairly family’s greatest rival, Kirsty feels betrayed. To make matters worse she is jealous of Mary MacFarlane, who is the last of the MacFarlane line, along with her half cousin.
Kirsty’s responsibilities are heavy when the second world war breaks out and they are increased when evacuees arrive at Fairlyden but her sense of humour sees her through and her determination to keep the farm never wavers 
 

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Four Bargains for Christmas

The price of the four Fairlyden novels has been reduced to 98 pence to download until the fourteenth of January 2013.

Here are the links and blurb for the first two.


Fairlyden book 1

Matthew Camerson’s death has ended the three life lease on the tenancy of the farm of Nethertannoch but Sandy Logan hopes to secure the tenancy so that he can keep his promise, made to Matthew on his deathbed, namely to love and protect his daughter, Mattie. He has made his promise with joy and sincerity because he loves the beautiful and vulnerable Mattie, who has been deaf since childhood.
The laird, Sir Douglas Irving, has other plans. He has little interest in the remote Scottish glen
of Caoranne, or its people, but he needs to buy the silence of rapacious farmer, Jacob Reevil, who has long coveted the prosperous Cameron farm – and Mattie. So the laird promises the girl and the farm to Reevil’s idiot son, with no thought for the consequences.
When events explode into violence Sandy finds himself accused of murder and he is forced to flee. He takes Mattie with him, although he knows he cannot marry her until she comes of age. They trek for many miles and eventually find refuge at the rundown farm of Fairlyden, nestling in a peaceful valley. It belongs to Daniel Munro who has been in poor health for years due to crippling rheumatism. He does not welcome strangers but something about the pair of fugitives touches his heart and he agrees to let them stay.
They work hard to make a living and to restore the fertility of the land. Gradually Mattie is able to produce enough eggs and butter to sell, and Sandy has his strength and knowledge of horse breeding, but they try to keep out of the public eye, fearing retribution from Caoranne.
Unfortunately Daniel Munro is the illegitimate son of the late Earl of Strathtod so Fairlyden only belongs to him, and his heirs, during their lifetime. Without heirs it will return to the present Earl, who has always hated Daniel and can’t wait for him to die. So Daniel devises a scheme to thwart his half-brother, a scheme which must include Mattie - one which will have far- reaching consequences down the generations.


Mistress of Fairlyden - Book 2

As Mistress of Fairlyden, and happily married to William Fairly, Sarah feels her life complete. But longing to share the joyful news of her pregnancy with Beatrice Slater, her childhood friend, Sarah defies her husband’s wishes and goes alone to Muircumwell Mill. She could not have foreseen the dreadful consequences which are to haunt her for the rest of her life, and force her to become the sole keeper of a disturbing secret.
At the Mill, she meets Beatrice’s sly and ambitious father, Edward Slater, whose evil jealousy and desire for revenge lead to a frenzied attack upon Sarah. Months later little Alex is born; a cripple whose deformity Sarah blames upon herself. William cannot bear the fact that his son will never be perfect and a rift develops.
Bored with the farm life of Fairlyden, and troubled by his son’s condition, William sets up a precarious business venture with Sir Simon Guillyman. Sarah cautiously welcomes this outside interest, thinking it good for William and their marriage. But when Sir Simon dies unexpectedly, his attractive widow poses a new problem.
With a growing family, financial hardship and the secret burden resulting from Edward Slater’s revelations, Sarah finds herself increasingly drawn to Crispin Bradshaw, owner of a Yorkshire woollen mill.
Mistress of Fairlyden is the moving and evocative second novel in this quartet of life on the land in nineteenth-century Scotland, following Fairlyden.

I will give details of the last two on my next blog.

Sunday 9 December 2012

FREE DOWNLOAD A Maxwel Mourned - Part 2 od the Laird of Lochandee






Part Two of an historical romance saga set in the Scottish Borders between the two World Wars.
This can be downloaded free from 12th to 16th December inclusive

Ross and Rachel Maxwell take up life at the Glens of Lochandee, where they must strive to build up the farm, raise a family, and rear their animals despite uncertainty of their tenure, the social instability of the years between the two World Wars and the heartbreak of tragic loss. Their love of the land and each other gives them strength and determination to face these challenges.

A Maxwell Mourned is the second part of The Laird of Lochandee which won the Elizabeth Goudge Trophy presented by the RNA in 2000. www.gwenkirkwood.co.uk

Review From Shelley Mosley Booklist (for whole book)
"Set against a background of world events during the thirties and forties Kirkwood's tale of an unlucky Scottish couple will interest fans of soap operas, mini-series and saga's such as Collen McCullough's The Thorn Birds"


For those who wonder where I get my tales of farming and the countryside here are some of the wee pigs born two days ago.