‘Come on, then.’ Mark pulled Jo after him. ‘Let’s see this play.’
Jo followed them both, bubbling with nervous excitement again. This was going to be the most important performance of her life, she realised. She looked around the room, at her father and Pearl, at Mark sitting with Ivy, never taking his eyes from her. She was doing this for the most important people in her life too.
Martha was ready with the music. Jo stepped forward, shaking inwardly, but feeling a calm strength coming from somewhere, filling her with courage.
‘This is a one-woman play called For Love and Glory,’ she announced. ‘I dedicate it to Colin and to Skippy who will always be with us.’ She gulped, catching sight of the Jacksons’ emotional faces. ‘I can feel them close to us today especially. We’re all thinking of them.’ She exchanged emotional looks with her father and he nodded in encouragement.
Jo took a deep breath and directed her look at Mark. ‘But most of all, I give this play to Mark. For being the survivor, for being a loyal friend and for having to carry all our grief as well as his own.’ He blurred in her vision for a moment as she fought down her tears. ‘Mark, this is for you, because you’re special to me,’ she smiled, ‘with all my love.’
She saw him grinning back at her with that look of tenderness she had not seen in years and feared never to see again. It gave her a surge of strength and conviction. ‘For Love and Glory!’ she declared boldly, and with pride.
~**~
If you have enjoyed The Tyneside Sagas, you might like to try the bestselling India Tea Series. The first book is THE TEA PLANTER’S DAUGHTER
1904 INDIA:Clarissa Belhaven and her younger sister Olive find their carefree life on their father’s tea plantation threatened by his drinking and debts. Wesley Robson, a brash young rival businessman, offers to help save the plantation in exchange for beautiful Clarrie’s hand in marriage, but her father flatly refuses. And when Jock Belhaven dies suddenly, his daughters are forced to return to their father’s cousin in Tyneside and work long hours in his pub.
In Newcastle, Clarrie is shocked by the dire poverty she witnesses, and dreams of opening her own tea room, which could be a safe haven for local women. To provide a living for herself and Olive, Clarrie escapes her dictatorial cousin Lily and takes a job as housekeeper for kindly lawyer Herbert Stock. But Herbert’s vindictive son Bertie, jealous of Clarrie’s popularity, is determined to bring about her downfall. Then Wesley Robson comes back into Clarrie’s life, bringing with him a shocking revelation ...
Set in the fascinating world of the Edwardian tea trade, THE TEA PLANTER’S DAUGHTER is a deeply involving and moving story with a wonderfully warm-hearted heroine.
Reviews:
‘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
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Janet welcomes comments and feedback on her stories. If you would like to do so, you can contact her through her website: www.janetmacleodtrotter.com
THE TYNESIDE SAGAS: Box set of three dramatic and emotional stories: A Handful of Stars, Chasing the Dream and For Love & Glory Page 121
