She’s gone in search of happy memories. But was her idyllic childhood in India an illusion?

After the Second World War, Libby Robson leaves chilly England for India, and the childhood home where she left her heart—and her beloved father, James—fourteen years ago.

At first Libby is intoxicated by India’s vibrant beauty: the bustle of Calcutta, the lush tea gardens of Assam. But beneath the surface a rebellion is simmering: India is on the brink of Independence, and the days of British rule are numbered. As the owner of a tea plantation, James embodies the hated colonial regime, and Libby finds herself questioning her idealised memories—particularly when she meets the dashing freedom fighter Ghulam Khan.

As Independence looms, life in India becomes precarious for Libby, James and even Ghulam. And when James reveals a shameful family secret, Libby is forced to question her past—and her future.

The India Tea Series:
In the fertile valleys of India, the passionate and resourceful women of the Belhaven and Robson tea planter families have always dreamt big, even in the momentous early years of the twentieth century. From the majestic mountains of Assam to the industrial streets of northern Britain, they must learn to cope with hidden secrets, forbidden love, betrayal and adversity as they strive to make life better for themselves and their loved ones. But as they embark on epic adventures across a fast-changing world, will the upheavals of war and the dying days of the British Raj stop their dreams from becoming a reality?

Praise for The India Tea Series

'Irresistible'
Sunderland Echo

'A wonderfully moving, deeply emotional tale'
Daily Record

'Trotter uses her experiences and imagination to bring strength and depth to her novels. Another thought-provoking book'
Lancashire Evening Post

'Another action-packed, emotionally charged page-turner'
Newcastle Journal

'A moving saga set against the backdrop of the thriving tea trade in turn-of-the-century Tyneside'
Peterborough Evening Telegraph

'A gripping and heartrending novel... An unforgettable novel of courage, suffering and enduring love'
Bolton Evening News

In the dying days of the Raj, can paths divided by time and circumstance ever find each other again?

In 1930s Northern India, childhood friends Stella and Andrew have grown up together in the orbit of the majestic Raj Hotel. Spirited Stella has always had a soft spot for boisterous Andrew, though she dreams of meeting a soulmate from outside the close-knit community. But life is turned on its head when one scandal shatters their friendship and another sees her abandoned by the man she thought she loved.

As the Second World War looms, Andrew joins the army to fight for freedom. Meanwhile in India, Stella, reeling from her terrible betrayal, also throws herself into the war effort, volunteering for the Women’s Auxiliary Corps, resigned to living a lonelier life than the one she dreamed of as a child.

When Andrew returns to the East on the eve of battle with Japan, the two former friends are reunited, though bitter experience has changed them. Can they rekindle what they once had or will war demand of their friendship the ultimate sacrifice?

In this evocative tale of life in India between the wars, friendships will be tested and loyalties torn. But can love win the day?

In Scotland in the aftermath of the First World War, nurse Esmie McBride meets handsome Captain Tom Lomax at her best friend Lydia’s home. Esmie is at first concerned for Tom’s shell shock, then captivated by his charm, but it’s effervescent Lydia he marries, and the pair begin a new adventure together in India.

When marriage to Tom’s doctor friend Harold offers Esmie the chance to work in India, the two sets of newlyweds find themselves living wildly different lives on the subcontinent. Esmie, heartbroken but resolved, is nursing at a mission hospital on the North West Frontier. Lydia, meanwhile, is the glamorous mistress of the Raj Hotel, where Tom hopes his sociable new wife will dazzle international guests.

As Esmie struggles with her true feelings for Tom and the daily dangers of her work, Lydia realises the Raj is not the centre of high society she had dreamed of. And when crisis strikes both couples, Esmie faces a shattering choice: should she stay the constant friend she’s always been, or risk everything and follow her heart?

In the 1920s Raj, hidden secrets and forbidden love will change two lives forever.

When Sophie is suddenly orphaned at the age of six, she is taken from her parents’ tea plantation, the only home she has ever known, to be raised halfway across the world in Scotland.

As the years pass and her exotic childhood becomes a distant memory, adventurous Sophie finds refuge in her friendship with her kind cousin, Tilly. It is no surprise when the girls follow each other to India to embark on new adventures, new lives and new loves.

But the reality of 1920s India is far removed from their dream: the jungles are too humid and the breathtaking tea gardens too remote. And amongst the stifling beauty, intrigue abounds; while Sophie struggles with affairs of the heart, Tilly, alone in a difficult world, delves into the mystery of Sophie’s parents’ deaths. As the past begins to darken their friendship, will long-held secrets shatter everything they’ve ever striven for?

An RNA Romantic Novel Award nominee.

From shipwreck and heartbreak to treachery and war: can their love survive?

Abandoned as a baby and raised in a remote lighthouse off the wild Northumberland coast, Alice Fairchild has always dreamed of adventure. When a fierce storm wrecks a ship nearby, she risks everything in an act of bravery that alters the course of her life.

Aboard the doomed vessel is the handsome John Sinclair, a Scottish soldier on his way to India. The connection between them is instant, but soon fate intervenes and leaves Alice heartbroken and alone. Determined to take charge of her destiny but secretly hoping her path will cross again with John’s, she too makes a new start in colonial India.

Life there is colourful and exotic, but beneath the bright facade is an undercurrent of violence, and when the British invade Afghanistan, Alice is caught up in the dangerous campaign. When at last she hears news of John, she is torn between two very different lives. But will she follow her head or her heart?

De l'Inde luxuriante aux quartiers sordides de Newcastle, de l'existence privilégiée des colonies aux combats des suffragettes, l'itinéraire d'une femme déterminée et courageuse, décidée à se battre contre l'adversité pour assurer son indépendance.

Clarrie Belhaven vit une jeunesse idyllique sur la plantation de thé indienne de son père, avec sa sœur Olivia. Mais l'alcoolisme et les dettes de ce dernier mettent en péril leur patrimoine et, lorsqu'il meurt brutalement, les jeunes femmes se retrouvent démunies. La fière Clarrie ayant rejeté l'aide de leur voisin, le séduisant Wesley Robson, les deux sœurs doivent quitter l'Inde et rejoindre leur cousin, tenancier d'un pub, en Angleterre. Transformée en esclave domestique par l'épouse de celui-ci, Clarrie va tenter d'échapper à son emprise en se faisant engager comme gouvernante chez un avocat. Mais la réapparition d'un homme de son passé risque de tout bouleverser...


Janet MacLeod Trotter signe une magnifique saga romanesque, dans laquelle son héroïne n'est pas sans nous rappeler la Scarlett d'Autant en emporte le vent.

A travers l'histoire mouvementée d'une jeune fille bien décidée à échapper à son destin et à la pauvreté, Janet MacLeod Trotter dresse un tableau captivant de la Grande-Bretagne des années 1930 sur laquelle plane l'ombre du fascisme.

1931. La crise frappe de plein fouet la petite ville de Byfell, aux environs de Newcastle. Criblé de dettes et rongé par l'alcool, Harry Magee se suicide, laissant derrière lui une famille démunie et un épais mystère. Amenée à subvenir aux besoins de sa famille, Clara, sa fille aînée, est propulsée bien malgré elle dans le monde des adultes. Malgré la tourmente, elle continue de rêver au frère de sa meilleure amie, Frank Lewis, dont elle est éprise en secret depuis des années. Patience, sa mère, préférerait à Frank Vinnie Craven, l'homme d'affaires qui tente de conquérir sa fille. De sorties en dîners de gala, le tourbillon de mondanités dans lequel il entraîne Clara laisse miroiter à la jeune femme une existence de rêve. Mais, une fois mariée, elle découvre le véritable visage de cet homme manipulateur, de plus en plus influent au sein du parti fasciste britannique.

Zwischen rauer Realität und exotischer Schönheit: Der zweite Band der großen Familiensaga von Bestsellerautorin Janet MacLeod Trotter um zwei außergewöhnliche Frauen in bewegten Zeiten.

Edinburgh, 1922: Nach dem Tod ihrer Eltern wächst Sophie bei ihrer Tante in Schottland zu einer blühenden jungen Frau heran. Mit den Jahren verschwimmen die Bilder ihrer Kindheit auf einer Teeplantage in Assam. Die Sehnsucht nach einer Rückkehr erwacht, als Sophie den charismatischen Tam kennenlernt, der bald nach Indien gehen wird. Da auch ihre beste Freundin Tilly ihrem Ehemann in die britische Kolonie folgt, beschließt Sophie auf ihr Herz zu hören. Doch das Leben in Indien ist ganz anders, als sie es in Erinnerung hatte.

Während Sophie Mühe hat, sich an ihr neues Leben zu gewöhnen, versucht Tilly, einsam in ihrem neuen Heim im Dschungel, Licht in Sophies Vergangenheit zu bringen. Werden die dunklen Schatten der Vergangenheit ihre Freundschaft und alles, wofür sie gekämpft haben, zerstören?