Hearts of Gold: 1 - Softcover

A warm tale with wonderful desciptions of life when workhouses were commonplace and communities clung together for survival. -- Julie Sayed * Lincolnshire Echo *

‘A page-turner... a terrific read’ Susan Sallis "A powerful tale of survival and hardship, very well crafted and with strong characters" - Publishing News Hearts of Gold – Book One in the Hearts of Gold series Trainee midwife Bethan Powell lives in the shadow of the workhouse during the Depression. It's difficult to say which is harder for her and fellow nurse Laura Ronconi - their gruelling work in the hospital, or the frictions and financial hardships at home. Bethan's Communist miner father, rigidly Chapel mother, unruly brothers, dubiously honest aunt, and Laura's vast Italian cafe-running family, cause the girls as much worry as any difficult case or strict ward sister. But working-class Pontypridd agrees on one thing - the 'crache', or gentry, who live in the big houses on the Common, may be just the other side of town, but they inhabit a different world. So when Bethan and Laura are smitten by two young doctors, can love really bridge the divide? Or is the pull of family too strong, the gulf too wide?