Book description
Kelly knew that, although Barney would always love her, his restless
soul would never allow him to stay, but she could never have envisaged
how his leaving would alter her life. Alone once more, Kelly finds
herself remembering the past: in particular, what happened in the autumn
of 1877 and how it destroyed her family. Filled with regrets and wishes
that life may have been different, Kelly begins to see that she must
confront her past - and only then will she finally be free. The story
of Josephine Cox is as extraordinary as anything in her novels. Born in
a cotton-mill house in Blackburn, she was one of ten children. Her
parents, she says, brought out the worst in each other, and life was
full of tragedy and hardship - but not without love and laughter. At the
age of sixteen, Josephine met and married 'a caring and wonderful man',
and had two sons. When the boys started school, she decided to go to
college and eventually gained a place at Cambridge University, though
was unable to take this up as it would have meant living away from home.
However, she did go into teaching, while at the same time helping to
renovate the derelict council house that was their home, coping with the
problems caused by her mother's unhappy home life - and writing her
first full-length novel. Not surprisingly, she then won the 'Superwoman
of Great Britain' Award, for which her family had secretly entered her,
and this coincided with the acceptance of her novel for publication.
Josephine gave up teaching in order to write full time. She says, 'I
love writing, both recreating scenes and characters from my past,
together with new storylines which mingle naturally with the old. I
could never imagine a single day without writing, and it's been that way
since as far back as I can remember.'
