The Worst of Lies

The worst of lies are those we tell for love. First in the series 'The Strongs of Summerleas Farm'. The tale of one young couple's mis-matched marriage...and their desire for fulfilment. Hampshire, England, 1829. When seventeen-year old Mary Springer marries George Strong and arrives with him at Summerleas Farm, she doesn't know that he is still obsessed with his erstwhile lover, Annie, the woman now...
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The worst of lies are those we tell for love.

First in the series 'The Strongs of Summerleas Farm'.

The tale of one young couple's mis-matched marriage...and their desire for fulfilment.

Hampshire, England, 1829.

When seventeen-year old Mary Springer marries George Strong and arrives with him at Summerleas Farm, she doesn't know that he is still obsessed with his erstwhile lover, Annie, the woman now married to his brother. Nor does she know that resentful of George's marriage and unhappy in her own, Annie is scheming to rekindle her relationship with him.

Isolated and lonely in her new surroundings, Mary struggles to cope with her husband's cold and evermore distant behaviour, while for his part, George laments choosing such a young and innocent wife. So when Annie is widowed by the unexplained death of her brutal husband and a young farm-hand offers Mary the chance to discover what is missing from her life, will their marriage survive?

Against a backdrop of the uprisings sweeping Hampshire in the 1830s, the story of George and Mary's ill-matched union is a tale of their search for love and fulfilment, of adultery and betrayal and of the lengths to which some people will go in the name of love.

Praise for The Worst of Lies - 'Whilst the pages are full of grit, heartache and love which one often finds in these types of novels, the reader is pleasantly surprised with the depth of character building and emotion set within its story.' - Historical Novel Society

Will I like this book? Ask the author:

When people discover that I have written a series of novels, their first question is often 'Would I like them?' and of course that's really difficult to answer. So over time, my response has become to ask them what sort of books and characters they like to read about. And then, if in particular they mention the nineteenth-century, family sagas, romance, emotional conflict, tangled relationships and earthy, rural settings, then I tell them that they might. But if, more than that, they tell me that they want to be drawn in by flawed characters and broken relationships; that they want to immerse themselves in a book to be savoured slowly and that will linger with them once finished; that they aren't squeamish about sex and adultery and prefer grit and betrayal over fairy-tale endings, then I tell them that they're probably in for a treat.

And if they're still undecided, then I tell them to use Amazon's 'Look Inside' feature and start reading. After all, if they reach the end of the preview and they want to know more, then surely that's a more powerful indication that they will enjoy reading the books than anything I can tell them!

Sandra-Jane GoddardThe Worst of LiesAn Unorthodox Arrangement

Contains adult themes.