The Good Provider

Nicholson Quartet #1

by Jessica Stirling

19th century. Kirsty Barnes, an orphan indentured to a lecherous old farmer, escapes from his advances with the help of her childhood sweetheart, Craig Nelson. With little money and still strangers to each other, they travel to Glasgow. Marriage takes second place to survival, although their fortunes improve when a churchgoing widow befriends Kirsty. Still not legally married, Kirsty gives birth to a son, and Craig establishes his reputation as a policeman. Ambitious and impatient to get on, Craig falls in with a gang of sly and vicious thieves and soon sinks into a life of drink and crime. Meanwhile, Kirsty has met the handsome and charming David Lockhart, a medical missionary soon to return to China. But she is bound by loyalty to Craig, a less than ideal husband who can only bring her hardship and heartbreak...

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

A pseudonym used by Hugh C. Rae, initially in collaboration with Peggie Coghlan and later alone.

Hugh Crauford Rae was born on November 22, 1935 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, son of Isobel and Robert Rae. He published his first stories aged 11 in the Robin comic, winning a cricket bat the same year in a children’s writing competition. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as an assistant in the antiquarian department of John Smith's bookshop. At work, he met her future wife, Elizabeth. Published since 1963, he started to wrote suspense novels as Hugh C. Rae, but he also used the pseudonyms of Robert Crawford, R.B. Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar) and James Albany. On 1973, his novel "The Shooting Gallery" was nominee by the Edgar Award. On 1974, he wrote the first few romance novels with Peggie Coghlan, using the popular pseudonym Jessica Stirling. However, when she retired 7 years after the first book was published, he continued writing more than 30 on his own, and also as Caroline Crosby. His female pseudonyms first became widely known in 1999, when "The Wind from the Hills" was shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Widowed nine years ago, Hugh died on September 24, 2014 at the age of 78.

Reviews

[Tracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting story of interesting, characters. Just what one might expect from a novel that takes place mainly in Victorian Glasgow. I have 3 of this ak uthors books but am ordering 4 more of these Jessica Stirling series novels,
Jessica Stirling is a pseudonym for Scottish author Hugh Crauford Rae.
The best thing I can say about an authors book is that I want to buy more of their books

[Virginia Markhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first book by this author. This story is based in Scotland. There were a lot of phrases and use of words that I could not understand. The basic story line was sound. I thought it would be a love story, but it really was not.

[Shazza · Rating 5 out of 5]

The very first Jessica Stirling novel I read which got me hooked on this author. All 4 books in this series are great reads