Life has a habit of pulling the rug out from under our feet just when we have settled. The women in these stories meet that moment with very different resources: a hat shop, a foothold in the fashion world, a typist’s training and a few coins in a pocket. Two are widowed and discover that grief is merely the first bill to arrive. Others face war, spiteful relations and villages that resent being rearranged. Each gets up, dusts herself down and starts again, often in unexpected places.
Betty Firth, A New Home in the Dales - Bobby Bancroft swaps a city typing pool for a junior reporter's job in the Yorkshire Dales, where the locals are not easily won over.
Anna Jacobs, Threepenny Dreams - Widowed Hannah Firth is young enough to dream of a fresh start, but powerful enemies have other plans.
Danielle Steel, Fall from Grace - Widowed at forty-nine and left out of her husband's will, Sydney Wells rebuilds her life in fashion.
Lesley Pearse, The Promise - Belle Reilly's husband enlists, so she becomes a Red Cross ambulance driver in France and meets Etienne again.
