Many Splendoured Thing

by Margaret Pemberton

What is holding together this peculiar band of pioneers? Polly Kirkham is an orphan who was brought up by the Mormons. Now, in the bitter winter of 1846, she is part of their small band of pioneers struggling westward to the Rocky Mountains. It is here that they meet Major Dart Richards of the US Cavalry. The Major intrigues her - he's a misfit like Polly, who has never been able to accept the Mormon faith. But Dart has vowed never again to become involved with a woman. So why, instead of enjoying the pleasures of St Louis, does he find himself shepherding a small company of women, children, oxen, goats and hens across the icy wastes in pursuit of an ideal?

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Margaret A. Hudson was born on 10 April 1943 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK, of German extraction. She was daughter of Kathleen (Ramsden), an artist, and George Arthur Hudson, an architect. Married with Londoner Mike Pemberton, they have five grown children, today she lives with her husband and four small dogs in Whitstable, Kent. Apart from writing, her passions are tango, travel, English history and the English countryside.

Published since 1975, she is a bestselling romance writer as Margaret Pemberton, and under the pseudonyms Carris Carlisle; Maggie Hudson and Rebecca Dean. Having travelled extensively, her novels are set in different parts of the world. She was the fifteenth elected Chairman of the Romantic Novelists' Association (1989-1991), she has also served on the Crime Writers' Association Committee.