Discover the emotional historical book from the Queen of Scottish Saga.

Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Val Wood

One woman's determination to triumph against the odds

Greenock, Scotland, 1916 Orphaned Elspeth Bremner longs to become a teacher, but her foster mother, Flora McDonald, decides that Elspeth must begin work when she turns fourteen. Instead, Elspeth's foster sister Mattie is encouraged to stay on at school, whilst her foster brothers are away fighting.

Wishing to improve her future prospects, she attends night school to learn shorthand, typing and book-keeping. When the brothers return home, it's soon clear that the war has changed them forever.

Elspeth begins to date Kenneth Monteith, who is studying to become a doctor, and when Kenneth returns to Glasgow, Mattie also travels there to begin her teacher training, following Elspeth's dreams and now her man.

Matriarch Flora keeps a tight rein on her grown-up children, forcing them to become even more determined to forge their own paths, even when the consequences are tragic.

In defiance of her stepmother, Elspeth begins to build up a business, and when her estranged father returns to Greenock, Elspeth feels pulled between him and her new suitor. But she soon learns that her affections have lain elsewhere all along.

Storytelling at its best, Evelyn Hood is the original bestselling Scottish saga writer

Previously published in paperback as Pebbles on the Beach