Rosaleen Magee has it all – a loving family, good looks and a handsome fiancé with his own thriving business. But then Sean Devlin turns up at the Falls Flax Factory, where Rosaleen works, and everything changes.She knows she should leave well alone, but what harm is there in one date before she settles down for good?That one date will set in motion a train of events that will shake Rosaleen’s family to its core. And as the war throws everyone’s lives into turmoil, will Ros...

Annie and Sean Devlin have been happily married for several years when a telegram arrives to say that Annie’s sister, Rosaleen, is making a flying visit home to Belfast from Canada, where she now lives.This news strikes fear into Annie’s heart for Rosaleen and Sean once had a brief affair. Annie’s concerns are well founded – the flame between Rosaleen and Sean burns as brightly as ever. Surely they couldn’t betray her again? And can Annie trust Rosaleen to keep the secret that the ...

Susan's boyfriend of six months, Jim, is a Catholic and her parents haven't yet found out. Jim has said all along that their romance is doomed and she must understand this - but, in fact, neither can bear not to see each other. Finally, Jim realises Susan is angling for a marriage proposal and he knows he must end their relationship. Susan is distraught and ends up being comforted (too much so!) by her sister Alison's current boyfriend, Graham, resulting in a pregnancy. Susan flees to her ...

When her mother leaves the family home in Belfast for her lover, Louise McGuigan is left feeling betrayed. It is up to Louise to look after her brother and sister while her father loses himself to alcohol. Returning to work at the local linen factory, she has to endure the cruel gossip about her so-called righteous mother and when Conor O'Rourke, the man of her dreams, continues to drag his heels about their future together, Louise doesn't know how much more she can take.Louise's l...

To her neighbours in Belfast, Maura Brady looks like she has it all - an attractive husband, a comfortable home and a gorgeous little boy, Danny. But behind closed doors, things are far from idyllic. Maura has long harboured doubts that her husband Adam only married her because he was quickly trying to mend a broken heart. Years ago, Adam's childhood sweetheart Evelyn suddenly left town to marry a rich, older man and left Adam shocked and shaken. But now that Evelyn has returned, as gorgeo...

Carers and caring are contemporary global issues of growing political and societal significance. Changing demographics in the UK and beyond, as well as policy drivers promoting community-based living, mean that the family is increasingly the site of care for relatives with long term support needs.Whilst there is a plethora of literature on carers it tends to be situated in separate subject areas. For the first time Family Carers and Caring brings together a range of materi...

′The book makes it easy to dip into a topic and also gives good overviews of theories and applications. This will definitely help students′Lesley Groom, University of BoltonCarefully-researched and highly readable this textbook looks at the experiences and health and social needs of key ′vulnerable groups′. It presents an engaging social science perspective relevant to everyone exploring how we, and society, care for the vulnerable.Each chapter defi...

This book fills a gap for an introductory text that offers broad coverage of the sociological issues that are relevant to health students coming to the theoretical and experiential aspects of health and illness for the first time.

Using a life course approach, the main chapters in this truly original and enlightening text focus on health and well-being during each of our life stages. A wide range of contemporary literature from disciplines such as public health, sociology, epidemiology and social policy are drawn upon to examine key health and well-being issues in these stages, and to illustrate how health effects can accumulate across the life course. Interactive activities based on the text and on extracts from pr...

Belfast, the 1960s. When Tess Maguire and her best friend Agnes Quinn get free tickets to see the Rolling Stones, there is nothing that will stop them from going to the Ulster Hall, not even the disapproval of Tess's mother Alice. And though Alice's concerns about trouble are to prove right, for Tess and Agnes they have a silver lining. As the concert ends in panic and confusion, the girls are helped out by their very own pair of Jumping Jack Flashes - Jack Thompson and Tony Burke. To begi...

Life in 1920s Belfast is hard for the working class people, but the McGuigans are more fortunate than most. But when eldest son Johnnie shatters the family's peaceful existence with a shocking and unwelcome revelation, opinions become divided. And there are secrets in other quarters, too, when sister Louise discovers her boyfriend is hiding something - a secret so terrible it threatens their engagement. The once close-knit family is forced to make a series of painful decisions that will ch...

When her mother leaves the family home in Belfast for her lover, Louise McGuigan is left feeling betrayed. It is up to Louise to look after her brother and sister while her father loses himself to alcohol. Returning to work at the local linen factory, she has to endure the cruel gossip about her so-called righteous mother and when Conor O'Rourke, the man of her dreams, continues to drag his heels about their future together, Louise doesn't know how much more she can take.Louise's l...