Retro

A relatable feel-good saga, this trilogy demonstrates changing attitudes to women over two decades.  We join these women at turning points in their lives.  Faced with challenges they decide on the path they will take.

The Boatman’s Daughter is set in 1970s Midlands.  Imogen, a grammar school girl, rebels against her middle class upbringing.  Her parents expected her to join her father in the bank and to marry well.  Instead she joins a house share and meets Tony an accountant and Anita an actress.  She soon learns who her friends are, but things aren’t all that they seem.  How will the group react when a crisis arises?  Imogen’s future can be altered by any decision that she makes now.

Imogen’s mother, Dulcie is persuaded to Live a Little in the second book.   She throws off the bonds of a conventional housewife by responding to an intriguing advertisement to start a new life in France.  Can she fit into the rural town or even into the alternative society of a commune.  When she discovers irregularities, standing up for what is right makes an uncomfortable experience.  Dulcie finds herself changed by the unconventional relationships that confront her.  After soul searching she is able to throw off old attitudes.  She is torn between a new love and her old life.  Will she decide to continue in France or return to England..

Diana’s Story -  the group of diverse friends and Dulcie all influenced the upbringing of little Diana. Now grown up, she has a place at university.  She compares her own life with that of her schoolfriends and questions what life would be if she had her true parents around her.  On a lone search she confronts 1990s youth culture, the narrow boat community, and the underworld.  Does she choose to fit in or stand by her own beliefs?  This gap year experience leads to Diana redefining the meaning of family.