Ember & spark

IT had been a long, hard drive. Frances had left early, hoping to get away before the rush hour – only to discover that the rush hour started earlier still. She stopped for a break further south than

Mary was as good as any lad – and she was going to prove it

BETH felt her heart pound as she made haste towards the Whitechapel Road. Why had Mrs Mears let out such a cry and thrown down the newspaper with unseemly urgency? Why had she bidden her maid to fetch

I’D seen an advertisement in my father’s newspaper for women to work on the canal boats. It said applicants should be of a robust constitution. I’m quite robust, so why not? I’d give it a go. “Look, D

LATE one night, when all customers had left the Mermaid Tavern, Morwenna was washing the used tankards. There hadn’t been that many customers that night, which was often a sign that people were engage

I PULLED back the living-room curtains and stopped singing along to the radio, frozen to the spot. How could this be? It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining, the birds had been singing up a s