The Long Wait

by Patricia Robins

Allerton Manor was the only home Tammy had ever known - and the Allerton family treated her as their own, but when she realised that her love for Dick Allerton had changed from the careless affection of childhood to the mature love of a woman, she was heartbroken when Dick still treated her as his little sister. When the final blow fell, and she thought she had lost not only Dick, but the only other thing that made her life bearable, she was in despair.

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Patricia Denise Robins was born on February 1, 1921 in Sussex, England, where she also spent her early school years. She was the daugther of Arthur Robins, a corn broker on the Baltic Exchange and of the popular romance author Denise Robins, who after their divorce, remarried with O'Neill Pearson. Patricia has two sisters, Anne and Eve. She comes from an artistic family, numbering musicians, writers and painters. Her maternal grandfather was Herman Klein, a musician and her maternal grandmother was the writer K. C. Groom. Her maternal uncle was Adrian Cornwell-Clyne, who wrote books on photography and cinematography, another uncle was an artist, as is her daughter.

Patricia began writing at the age of ten, encouraged by her mother, who was the first president of the Romantic Novelists' Association (1960-1966). At 12, she published her first children's novella, The Adventures of the Three Baby Bunnies, ilustrated by Grizel Maxwell (aged 14). Patricia worked on the editorial team of a woman's magazine, her post gave her a unique insight into the world of publishing, but it was during the Second World War that her writing career as children's author became established. She produced a serial for Woman's Illustrated, and although her first love was always children's novellas, she could not find a publisher for her work and turned to romance fiction like her mother. She wrote romantic short stories and light romantic novels as Patricia Robins, publishing her works with Hutchinson, Hurst & Blackett and other publishing houses. In the later 1960s, she decided to use a pseudonym Claire Lorrimer, to write longer novels and family sagas. Her historical novels under this penname are characterised by meticulous detail and feeling for the period, often highlighting the situation of women. She believes that once started, a story writes itself. In 2007, she wrote her autobiography: You Never Know.

Although, Patricia has travelled extensively around the world, she has made her home in a four hundred year-old, oak beamed cottage in rural Kent. She enjoys such outdoor activities as gardening, tennis, ski-ing and golf. Her other interests include reading, travel, meeting people and entertaining, but her life is centred mainly around her three children, eight grandchildren, her work and her lovely home and garden.