Bøger af Kathy McKay

Elli, a Romany girl, has finally married Rueben the German Jewish Manager of her mill. She is horrified by news coming from Germany about the way Jews are being treated and she involves her own family in attempts to save Jewish children and to provide homes for them in England. The horror of war comes to Sussex after 1939. Farmworkers go into the Forces and Land Army girls arrive, Searchlight batteries are set up on the Downs, extinguishing the gentle light of the Fireflies so beloved by Elli. She notes the change in peoples' attitudes towards one another as the dangers of war involve her own rural life. Everybody extracts what pleasure they can from life's simple things, knowing they may never see a tomorrow. She walks the farm, making friends of the Land Army girls; she looks for peace and comfort away from the war, and trying to immerse herself in gypsy roots as she watches and listens, seeking advice from the bees.

Evacuee Lottery is mainly a true story with just a few flights of my imagination to add a little humour when my memories became too sad. Many of the children remained in Polegate long after the war was over. Some that returned to London would visit Polegate just to keep in touch with old friends.

Syria is a place that can no longer be called Home. Many people are fleeing from the bombing. Salma with her brothers, mother, and a father (who tells her he is going to find her a husband), decide to walk the many miles to freedom. Salma has heard of girls being educated, and this is what she wants. On the walk she meets many people and makes a friend of a Greek girl. When a chance comes, Salma leaves her family and strikes out with her friend to find Education, Peace and Happiness

Mary grace is a small child who has been looking after her cantankerous Father since her mother died. When her father also goes to meet his maker, Mary Grace is pushed from one home to another, feeling lost and unwanted until she inherits a house. She then asks the stable boy to marry her. He is not happy to live in a smart home. So Mary grace gives him money to go and explore America with its Allure of the gold rush, and the wonderful open spaces. That is not the end of her problems she very soon finds that it is just the beginning.

Gracie, Mia and the two sisters Vicky and Sally Soon make themselves at home in the Hidden Manor and Marshalls Farm, Vicky is soon married to the owner of the Farm Amos Marshall, but he is a very ill man, she tends him as well as she can, and grieves for him constantly. When Amos her husband dies, she is overcome and afraid that she might have to leave the farm. That is a time when so many Irish men are looking for a way to stay in England. Vicky takes on a group of them, they are very hard working but she is amazed to find that three of them form a musical group they play their instruments and sing near to the public houses. Vicky houses and feeds them, but for a time they are earning their own money. Vicky falls in love with Paddy they have to be very imaginative to keep the Marshalls Farm. The name Marshall is a problem but they soon overcome that. There are many more problems to come they find that they have to be very clever with the truth.

Because of the scandal and ill feeling, that is now spread around Mary Grace, who is now calling herself Gracie, she and her good friend Mia, soon decide to look for another house that they can move into and hopefully lay quiet and soon be forgotten. Cook is very happy to go with them. Gracie has always like the Sussex Downs, they soon find a house, and hope that they can go there incognito, they are amazed to find that the people in that small part of the area, starts to call them The Foreign Sisters. They both have very dark hair they speak with a trace of a foreign accent. They very soon find that the house is haunted, but they speak to the man and soon feel at home with him. Soon they learn that smugglers are using the path beside their house, then even more alarming. Their life becomes more troublesome and complicated. But what will the end of their troubles be?

Faith and Hope are twins their parents have both died, at first they are being looked after by an Aunt who has children of her own, she does not want to keep them so they are sent to an Orphanage in Lewes. The superintendent of the Orphanage smiles at Hope then he asks her if she will keep his room clean. He abuses Hope and leaves her feeling disgusted with herself and afraid to face life. Elli from the manor house try's to find work for them both, but soon she finds that Hope needs help, so she brings in a Doctor to help her. Hope goes to work in London very soon she finds a church and becomes involved in spiritual healing. In the war years she works in a hospital for injured soldiers. Until her friend comes home after being in the hands of the Gestapo. She then takes care of her friend. There is much more both good and bad ahead for them, but happiness is waiting.

Paul was a loving child, trying hard to do all that his mother expected of him, but from a very early age he know that his mother did not like him. His father and sister Judith were nice to him. When his older brother James brought his girlfriend to live with them, Paul still only a child fell in love with her. It was as if Elli made the sun shine for him. His mother disliked Elli and very soon with her unkindness got rid of her. Paul would still see Elli, she had only moved as far as the Manor House close by. Paul's father told him that one day each week he could have a day off from the farm. Then he started to help a friend, collecting OldIron. Paul loved Victor and his horse, life became much better. Until one day he saw his mother do something terrible. Paul had lost so much. his life had to go on, one day would he find true happiness?

Elli is a Romany girl living in a typical Gypsy caravan with her grandmother accompanying a travelling Fair. Her grandmother practises herbal medicine. When she dies, Elli is fearful of facing life on her own and makes many mistakes before an army major asks her to work for him in the manor house at Friston. It is then that she discovers who her father had been.

This story starts early in the second world war. TheBradshall family had been living In London where Ernest Bradshall worked for the government, and his work could not be talked about. Ernest had purchased a house in the country at a remarkably cheap price. Patricia, his wife, did not want to leave London because she liked the glamour and excitement of the city. The school in London was being evacuated to the country. Amy was pleased about this, and when she met Judy, the Bradshall's daughter, she decided to take this young child with her. When the Bradshall parents found their daughter missing it created frenzy, until she was at last found. The family's move to the country was far more dramatic than they had expected. Crime, and horror definitely was not confined to London. This all came to a head when they discovered that a murder had been committed there. It just had to be solved.

Elli was afraid of having to leave the Manor House where she had been so happy, but life had to go on. Her husband had been killed in the war. She now had Paul who was kind, and made her happy. They had five children to look after between them. Life could be exciting and fun, but some changes had to happen. Moving house was a challenge but also interesting. The future held many surprises, not all good. They were not asking for perfection, but just hoping they would make their future together with love and support for their children, who were a very mixed bundle.

This is the first book that I have written for children. I hope they will enjoy my efforts and come back for more. The book contains two story poems of Mice (Millicent and The Highway Mouse) regarding their lifestyles and journeys.

Amy was a widow with three very young children. For a long time she had been looking for a house cheap enough for her to buy, as she wanted a good home for her children. At last a woman made her an offer of a house that was just about perfect for Amy's needs, at a price that she could afford, but it had to be purchased in a hurry. The day that Amy and her children moved in she had to face problems that she had never imagined. The more that she worried desperately trying to put thing right the deeper she fell into a bottomless pit.

As the years went by. Amy who had always enjoyed singing, was making a good name for her self with recordings and now quite a few lively appearances on Television. She had recently married the police man that years earlier had told her that her husband was dead, killed in a motor accident. Her life now seemed more secure, with her children around her. New friends in an unknown part of the country. The problems that came into her life were not her own, . She was now a shoulder to cry on for the people that needed her. She wondered what more was there for her to expect.