Maureen Lee's Books

cover - After the War is Over AMY'S DIARY

On 3rd September 1939 Amy Browning started to write a diary. It was a momentous day for so many reasons. It was Amy's 18th birthday and the day her sister gave birth to a baby boy. It was also the day that Amy heard the news on the radio; Great Britain was at war with Germany.

Living with her family in Opal Street, Liverpool, Amy and her friend got jobs at a factory and to begin with life went on much the same as before. Then the bombs began to fall on Liverpool, and Amy's fears grew. Her brother was fighting in France, her boyfriend had joined the R.A.F and they all now lived in a very dangerous world.

THIS SHORT NOVEL IS WRITTEN ESPECIALLY FOR SLOW READERS AND PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE TO GET INTO THE HABIT OF READING AGAIN

This novel will be published in February 2012..

cover - After the War is Over AFTER THE WAR IS OVER

The war is over and the first peacetime Christmas approaches. In Liverpool, Iris, Maggie and Nell have been demobbed and have to face civilian life after the excitement and adventure of their years in the Army; Iris to a childless marriage with a husband she doesn't love and Maggie to more excitement and adventure if she can possibly manage it. All Nell wants is a nice quiet life doing something she loves - cooking.

But nothing goes right for the women. Ghosts appear from the past, promises are broken, things turn out to be not at all what they seem. And Nell is the one whose shocking revelation changes both the other women's lives....

This novel will be published in April 2012.

Jessica is married to Bertie, a mean, patronising man whom she has stayed with purely for the sake of her two young children. To make up for the love and passion that is missing from her life, she spends the occasional afternoon at the local cinema, lost in romantic films. But when an unexpected glass of champagne is offered to her in a Liverpool hotel, the consequences turn out to be shattering.

When Bertie discovers his wife's deceit, he is ruthless in his revenge. He sells their house and disappears with her beloved children, leaving Jessica devastated and alone. Still she manages to exist, even make a sort of life for herself on her own, despite her broken heart. Then she is asked to visit Paris to help an old friend and her small daughters return to Liverpool before the onset of the war.

But, due to circumstances over which she has no control, Jessica finds herself stranded in Paris under German occupation. With new friends and a small family to care for, she must fine the courage that she never knew she possessed.

I was on holiday in Paris and passed the narrowest street I had ever seen. It was called Rue de la Grande Truanderie. It really sparked my interest as a setting for a novel and Au Revoir Liverpool is the result.

School has closed and the long summer break has begun. For lifelong friends Norah and Daisy, it is a turning point in their lives, the last holiday they will spend together. Daisy is finishing school and getting married before the new term starts; Norah is returning to take A levels. So, the next few weeks are going to be a very special time.

But they reckoned without the strange, charismatic young man, Jack Hannay, who has come to live in the local boatyard. Instead of visiting all the places they had planned, the girls fall under the dark spell of Jack Hannay, along with the beautiful Amanda Pilgrim who wants to be an actress when she grows up.

Sadly, the holiday comes to an end, but Daisy refuses to accept that it is over. She insists on one last visit to Jack's boat where something so horrific happens that it changes the three girls' lives in a cruel and brutal way.

Sixteen years later, all three in their own different ways are still suffering from the effects of that night. But there are matters yet to be resolved, mysteries to solve and dragons to slay before their lives can return to normal. If they ever can!

Before my sagas were published I had written three thrillers, none of which were accepted for publication. Yet I thought they were good and longed to see them in print one day. I recently put 'Dusk' on kindle and it can be downloaded for 99p.

These books were published under the pseudynom Kath Kincaid. They are nothing like my sagas. I think they are referred to as 'Hen Lit' - ie, 'Chick Lit' for the older woman. Orion, who has published all my other books, has agreed to issue them under my real name. I'm not sure when they will be published, but hopefully it will be later this year.