An abandoned baby leads a teenage girl to a brilliant career. In 1910 young teenager Jennifer Owen discovers an abandoned baby in a field, wrapped up with a penny for luck. Years later, with the help of society hostess Millicent Colston-Smart, she decides to track the child down. The trail (and that exact penny) leads to some startling discoveries for all concerned.When this book was first published by St Martin's Press in New York and Piatkus in London, in 1996, it attracted the f...

"The Dukes" is a magnificent novel about a family, with all the emotions, problems and drama of any large family — except that in this case the head of it, Augustus Clarence Fitzstephen Wrottesley Veitch du Bois, the Fourth Duke of St. Ormer, is about to die without an heir. A one-time intimate friend of the Prince Regent and Charles James Fox ... a landed magnate whose huge palace, Chalfont Abbey, is one of the great houses of England ... a rake who has sired many a bastard son and daught...

Felix Breit was a noted sculptor in the 1930s but, as a "quarter-Jew" in the Nazi stereotype, he was arrested in Paris in 1942. The Gestapo always intended to release him - after the scandal had filled the papers and distracted the public from other mass arrests. But Felix went on the run until re-arrested and sent to Mauthausen death camp. There he was put on a dietary experiment that enabled him to survive, although he had severe TB by liberation day, when he was carried out on a stretch...

Published by St Martin's Press in New York and Piatkus in London, in 1994, Kernow & Daughter attracted the following notices:* Macdonald combines strong characters and a brisk narrative full of sharp observations about life, love, and the eternal struggle between men and women caught up in tightly structured, turn-of-the-[19th]-century society — US Booklist* Macdonald in his usual expertise has created an outstanding novel, mastering a vivid account of life, love, and the pro...

When this book was published by St Martin's Press in New York and Piatkus in London, 1986, it attracted the following notices:● Chatterley meets Manderley — Washington Post● Macdonald inherited all of R.F. Delderfield's fans. His sagas set in England are a joy to read — Columba - Midwest Review of Books● A highly readable, wonderfully emotional, and perfectly satyisfying fare for the sumptuous-saga lover — Rave Reviews● Routine, predictable, and humdrum romance,...

The writer's life, from birth in the old workhouse in Chipping Sodbury, through wartime years as his family followed his RAF father to Shropshire, Ayrshire, South Africa, and back home to the war's end in Gloucestershire. How we were torpedoed in mid-Atlantic, fought pirates in Algoa Bay, shot the last Basin-arsed Bird in the Veld, and wept as Table Mountain slipped below the horizon. Back to wartime Britain ... doodlebugs ... girls ... cigarettes (courtesy of the Church of England). Publi...

When published by St Martin's Press and Piatkus in 1994, the novel attracted the following reviews: The setting for Macdonald's new historical romance is the Cornish town of Penzance during WWI, but it might as well be Peyton Place for all the secrets and sexual high-jinks it hosts. The pages don't exactly fly by but they do offer the well-wrought historical details, plot twists, and vivid characters his fans expect — Publishers WeeklyA tale of voluble and feisty young women who giv...

When this book was published by St Martin's Press in New York and Piatkus in London, in 1997, it attracted the following notices:Ultraprolific Irish author Macdonald's 27th book ... an amiable story full of iron-fibered characters and their agreeable wisechat as Macdonald unspools from his heart long passages of period description that seemingly celebrate his own powers of memory and the tug of the past. Appealing calendar art brought to life on a tide of romantic passion and much t...

First published in 1992 by Piatkus in London and St Martin's in America the book attracted the following reviews:* Although this talky saga often drags, Macdonald nonetheless depicts turn-of-the-century Cornwall convincingly — Publishers Weekly* The theme [of a threatened happy marriage] has been tackled before but seldom so well — Liverpool Daily Post* More of Macdonald's wise/unwise, chatty, jaunty women–a pair this time–and their equally entertaining men, again hold...

When published by St Martin's Press in New York and Piatkus in London, in 1990. The book attracted the following notices:• By far the best of his West Country sagas ... a highly unusual profile of a woman of those times — Eastern Evening News• Macdonald succeeds wonderfully in capturing the feeling of Cornish village life, including its broad, rich humour. The legion of Winston Graham's Poldark fans will find, if they have not already done so, that Malcolm Ross is a worthy su...

Published by St Martin's Press in New York and Headline in London in 1990, Hell Hath No Fury attracted the following notices:* This novel features another of Macdonald's vigorous, sensible, and ambitious heroines of the middle class. ... Beautifully written, this is Macdonald's best effort yet — Cynthia Ogorek, US Booklist* Macdonald's characters fail to become credible, their actions are inconsistent and often unappealing ... and the prose is perfunctory — Publishers Weekly

A practical guide for would-be novelists on that tricky first hurdle - the opening line and then the opening chapter of a novel. Novelist Malcolm Macdonald wrote 33 historical novels, published by Knopf, Simon & Shuster, St Martin's Press, and Sourcebooks in the USA and by Cape, Hodder, Headline, Piatkus and Severn House in the UK so he knows a thing or two about what works and doesn't work in the delicate art of capturing a new reader's attention and then holding it fast through that roll...