A Country Marriage

A Country Marriage

<b>The worst lies are those we tell in the name of love …</b><br /><br />Hampshire, 1829<br /><br />Old country customs die hard in rural Hampshire and marriages are, more often than not, arrangements of convenience rather than love.<br /><br />When 17 year old Mary Springer marries into the Strong family, she barely knows her new husband George, or what to expect from married life.<br /><br />However, it doesn’t take long before she realises that it is not going to match up to her girlish, fairytale dreams.<br /><br />Instead, it seems to only bring her hard work, a husband who takes little notice of her and an openly hostile sister-in-law. <br /><br />Mary is further troubled by George's increasing affinity with a group of violent protestors known as The Radicals.<br /><br />As agricultural labourers, their livelihoods are threatened daily by farmers adopting new, innovative machinery, and they will stop at nothing to protect their traditional way of life.<br /><br />Machines are destroyed and the countryside is soon ablaze with torched haystacks.<br /><br />Mary suspects George is involved and fears the consequences, but she’s powerless to do anything. <br /><br />When George’s father takes on a new farm-worker – the very handsome and equally charming Francis Troke – Mary suddenly understands what it is to be truly desired and at last happiness beckons.<br /><br />But the activities of The Radicals threaten to destroy this glimmer of hope.<br /><br />So just how far will Mary go in the name of love?<br /><br />Set against the backdrop of agricultural unrest, <em>A Country Marriage</em> is a compelling country saga of forbidden love and betrayal.<br /><br /><b>Sandra Jane Goddard</b> grew up in the Hampshire countryside, where this novel is set. After a career in project management she travelled the world, building homes in a Spanish almond grove and then on the edge of a Malaysian rainforest. Researching her family history inspired her to turn some of it into fiction, which she did with the aid of mentoring from the Writers’ Workshop. She now lives in Devon.