Like the rest of the nation, the Burracombe villagers are shocked when King George the Sixth dies suddenly in February 1952. But in the midst of their grief, the arrival of a stranger in the village on the very same day goes almost unnoticed. As they move into a new Elizabethan era, the villagers have their own concerns. Farmer's daughter Val Tozer needs to find a home before she can marry her sweetheart; Hilary Napier is struggling to come to terms with her new responsibilities, and Stella Simmons is still getting to know the sister she thought she had lost. Old enemies Jacob Prout and Jed Fisher carry on their lifelong feud; Joyce Warren and Constance Bellamy clash yet again and sadness touches at least one of the cottages, while at the village school the children are as lively, as inquisitive and as comical as ever. Jennifer Tucker is searching for a family she hadn't even realised existed. To help her, she enlists the aid of Basil Harvey, the vicar, and gradually, as the village becomes involved in her search, more than one person is led to question their own ideas about families and what they mean.Lilian Harry's Dartmoor-based series has all the drama and warmth her readers expect and love.
Donna Thomson was born in Gosport, near Portsmouth Harbour, England, UK. Growing up during the terrifying years of the Blitz in a two-up, two-down terraced house, the youngest of four, she aspired to be a writer from an early age.
As a young woman she worked in the Civil Service and moved to Devon to be near her sailor husband. They had a son and a daughter. When the marriage ended, she and her two children moved to the Midlands, where she happily married again to her second husband. After living in the Lake District for twelve years, she finally moved back to Devon, and now lives in a village on the edge of Dartmoor. She lost her son Philip in 2008, and has two grandchildren. A keen walker and animal-lover, she now has a dog and three ginger cats to keep her busy, along with a wide range of hobbies she enjoys.
She started signing her romance novels as Donna Baker and Nicola West, now she also writes as Lilian Harry (inspired by the first names of her grandparents). Among her works are historical novels, romances and even two books giving advice on how to write short stories and novels.
No matter how many times I read these books I love them just as much as the first time I read them. This book is no exception. It's rather like coming home after a trip away from home. A good book,glass of wine maybe chocolate, Bliss. Pure nostalgia.
This series is a very gentle read. It's set in the 1950s in a small village in Devon. The stranger in the title comes to look for the man who fathered her.
Another Lilian Harry post war story. A nice, gentle story with all the ends neatly tied up together at the end. Great if you're looking for a non-taxing read with nothing too stressful in it!