Iain stood for a few minutes on the little bridge that crossed the burn and looked at the house—he felt that he had betrayed it. No people save his own had ever lived in the house, and now he had sold it into slavery. For three months it would shelter strangers beneath its roof, for three months it would not belong to him.Despite his passionate love for Ardfalloch, Iain has been driven to let his home and estate to Mr Hetherington Smith, a wealthy London businessman, and h...

"There's something . . . I mean we simply must see Miss Fortune now. She isn't in bed, is she?""No, she ain't," said Nannie grimly. "She ought to be, but she ain't, an' you shall see 'er. Ho, yes you shall! Both of you shall see 'er before you're any older."The village of Dingleford is all aquiver with the arrival of lovely young Miss Fortune with plans to open a tea house. Captain Charles Weatherby, just back from India, has "no use for bright little crea...

"Now, listen to me," said Mr. Green earnestly. "I've brought up my little girl as a girl should be brought up. I've sheltered her from the world. She's uncontaminated by the modern ideas-uncontaminated. What d'you think of that?"Young George Ferrier's frivolous jaunt in London ends with an unexpected encounter with wealthy Mr. Green, old friend of his father, who spontaneously drafts George to be a trustee for his daughter Elma. George accepts (primarily due to the payment...

Sometimes she wished she could stick up a large notice saying: "FOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT TOO MANY" . . .Raising four young children on her own in the years of postwar rationing, widowed Dinah tends to be the subject of sympathetic murmurs. But though she has little money, is perpetually tired, and remains haunted by unresolved issues from her troubled marriage, Dinah rejects all offers of pity. When her twin brother Dan returns from the military, he sends her and the children...

Yes, her job was the loneliest in the world. No king, no dictator set high upon a pinnacle, was as friendless as the headmistress of a girls' school.Charlotte Fairlie loves her position at the illustrious St. Elizabeth's, but it's not without its challenges-first among them her trouble-making maths mistress Miss Pinkerton, who yearns for Charlotte's job and spares no effort to complicate her life. Then there's the charming Lawrence Swayne, headmaster of a nearby boys' scho...

Frances was free. She had enough money for her holiday, and when it was over she would find useful work. Her plans were vague, but she would have plenty of time to think things out when she got to Cairn. One thing only was certain—she was never going back to prison again.Young Frances Field arrives in a scenic coastal village in Scotland, having escaped her dreary life as an orphan treated as little more than a servant by an uncle and aunt. Once there, she encounters an ar...

Caroline opened the door and saw Mr. Shepperton standing on the step. “Oh, it’s you!” she exclaimed in surprise.“Did you—were you expecting someone else?” he asked.“Only the Queen,” replied Caroline, chuckling. “Don’t mind me,” she added. “I often go slightly mad.”Caroline Dering, a widow with three grown children, lives a cheerful, quiet life near the idyllic English village of Ashbridge. But things are about to liven up, as daughter Leda...

Miss Clutterbuck would like me to run the bar—no, it can’t be that—run the car*, which has seen its best days but is still useful for shopping. Grace has told her I am patient and tactful, so (as she herself is neither the one nor the other) she thinks I am the right person to look after the social side.*With husband Tim stationed in Egypt and her children at boarding-school, Hester Christie—affectionately known as “Mrs. Tim” and based loosely on D.E. Stevenson herself—fin...

“I’m not really worrying, but it’s very isolated. Boscath is like an island in some ways.”“I see what you mean,” nodded Jock.“And Rhoda isn’t used to islands.”James Dering and his new wife Rhoda are returning from their honeymoon, and Jock and Mamie Johnstone are delighted to welcome them to their new home on a neighbouring farm. But Mamie’s concern proves justified, and Rhoda, a talented painter who has chosen marriage over art, finds rur...

There is so much War News in News Bulletins, in Newspapers, and so much talk about the war that I do not intend to write about it in my diary. Indeed my diary is a sort of escape from the war . . . though it is almost impossible to escape from the anxieties which it brings.Bestselling author D.E. Stevenson’s charming fictional alter-ego, Hester Christie—or “Mrs. Tim” as she is affectionately known to friends of her military husband—was first introduced to readers in Mr...

Sometimes it is difficult to see clearly in what direction one’s duty lies (and especially difficult for people like myself with a husband in one part of the world and children in another) but Tim and I, talking it over together in cold blood, decided that I ought to go home.Hester Christie, the delightful heroine last met in Mrs. Tim Gets a Job, has spent a blissful 18 months living in Kenya where husband Tim is posted. But now it’s back to England to be with her...

“I like Mureth,” declared Lady Shaw. “There’s something about Mureth.”“It does things to people,” Mamie agreed.Lady Shaw considered this. It sounded silly, but was it really silly. People said that Mamie Johnstone was a fool, and it was true that sometimes she said things that sounded foolish … but the things she did were wise.Mamie Johnstone, sister of Caroline Dering whom we met in Vittoria Cottage, and her husband Jock...