Cowgill Family

Yorkshire, 1878. Young, ambitious and in love, Albert Cowgill’s life is finally beginning in earnest. At just 23, he has already been made partner at Haigh, Ackroyd & Cowgill – the best wool business in the city. He’s also just laid eyes on the prettiest girl he ever saw, Hannah Ackroyd. Romance soon blossoms for Albert and Hannah, and they marry and set up home in Scarborough. But before long, clouds gather over Number 1, Byland Crescent. Within a year, Albert’s family begins to disintegrate.

Yorkshire, 1923. Sonny Cowgill is slowly regaining his memory. He was declared missing in action in the First World War, presumed dead. But Sonny’s beloved wife Rachel found him and brought him home. As he rebuilds his relationship with his wife and learns how to be a father to the son he never knew he had, memories begin to resurface. Sonny remembers something that the Cowgill family thought lost forever – the whereabouts of his eldest brother.

Yorkshire, 1946. At last, Sonny and Rachel Cowgill hear the news they’ve been so desperate for. Their son Mark, who was injured in the very last days of the fighting, will make it home in time for Christmas. But their youngest son Billy has not been so lucky. He was declared missing in action in Crete and is presumed dead. Sonny and Rachel are learning to give up hope of seeing him again. Meanwhile, in Australia, Luke Fisher returns from the German prisoner of war camp where he was interned. His beloved fiancée Isabella Finnegan is waiting for him. But all is not well.

Reminiscing over times gone by at Number 1 Byland Crescent, Jenny Cowgill takes a break from her baking to sit and enjoy the long-awaited postcard from Spain from her son, Andrew. But she is soon disturbed by a knock at the door. The policeman says a member of the Cowgill family has suffered a serious accident in London and her husband Mark must go at once. It’s Mark’s estranged sister Lizzie. Lizzie’s accident leaves her with life-changing injuries. Her career is over. Now perhaps she will finally come home to reconcile with the family in Scarborough?