Constance and Faith [Paperback]

Hannah has returned home, escaping from disappointments in London, a failed job and a disappearing boyfriend. Home is Linton - a coastal mining town in north-west England - where the rain seems to grind down the inhabitants. She comes back to a fiercely independent mother and grandmother and a past shrouded in mystery. Set up by her grandmother, she begins to catalogue pictures at the 'Big House', where she uncovers secrets which affect her and everyone she loves. Linton, though, proves something of a saviour for Hannah, because while she finds out the truth about her own past, she discovers her future too. The town and its history are painted in atmospheric colour, the cast of women - from the past to the present - are strong, fun and loveable and the plot works towards a satisfying, engrossing conclusion. (Kirkus UK)

CONSTANCE & FAITH is set in Cumbria, in the fictional town of Linton on the coast. It is here that Hannah grew up, surrounded by her rather dotty grandmother, mother and aunts. As soon as she is able, she leaves - for London, her own flat, a boyfriend, a career. But, brokenhearted and unemployed, she returns to Linton a few years later to find the town and its people, their routines and preoccupations, completely unchanged - or so it appears on the surface. The guilt and apathy she feels at having gone home haunt her, but gradually she is drawn into this rather genteel, slow-paced world and finds that it is anything but dull and set in its ways. The history of her own family, of past generations, their secrets, love affairs, betrayals and intricate lives, begin to emerge, not least through the stunning paintings that she undertakes to catalogue in the local manor house. And gradually we learn exactly why Hannah left Linton in the first place, not to fulfil her ambition for excitement and success in the big city, but to escape disgrace in the eyes of her own family...

Victoria Routledge worked in publishing for three years before her first novel, FRIENDS LIKE THESE, was published. She is twenty-six and writes full time as a novelist and a journalist. She was born in the Lake District and now lives in London. She is the author of FRIENDS LIKE THESE and KISS HIM GOODBYE and ...AND FOR STARTERS.