Hareclough Heights

Homecomings, heartache, and the courage to begin again.

When the men of Hareclough return from war-Field Marshal Edward Cartwright, Captain Martin Daniels VC, and Lieutenant Edward Daniels VC-the village throws open its arms. Bonfires blaze, the brass band plays, and life restarts. Yet peace brings new battles: failing health, private grief, and the work of remaking ordinary days.

Out of loss comes light. Dora and Elisabeth find steadfast friendship. Edward and Elsie welcome baby Brian. Paul discovers a love worth waiting for. And with the Field Marshal's final bequest-two acres above the river Tauper-father and son build the homes they once dreamed of under fire.

Set in late-1940s Yorkshire and told with warmth and gentle humour, Hareclough Heights is a heartfelt saga of community, family, and hope after war. For fans of post-war village life, stoic romance, and the quiet heroism of everyday people.

Set in the late 1940s on a Yorkshire estate, Hareclough Heights follows two families bound by war, work, and love. When Field Marshal Edward Cartwright returns home with Captain Martin Daniels VC and his son, Lieutenant Edward Daniels VC, the estate erupts in relief and celebration-bonfires without bangs, dancing in the hay barn, and children tasting chocolate for the first time. But peace brings its own reckonings. The General's cough worsens; grief knocks twice-first at the big house, then at Dora and Martin's cottage when faithful Labrador Peggy dies.

Amid sorrow, life insists on hope. Edward and Elsie welcome baby Brian; Paul finds shy, certain love with Laura; and Elisabeth-newly widowed-draws close to Dora in a friendship that steadies them both. The General's will gifts Martin and Edward an acre each on the lower nine, overlooking the river Tauper: land and means to build the homes they dreamed of in foxholes and troop trains. As stone rises and hearths are set, the estate reshapes itself-traditions kept, futures claimed.

Told with warmth, quiet humour, and the everyday music of work-lessons in a village school, spit-roasted hog on feast days, chestnuts by brazier light-this is a story of coming home when home has changed. It is about courage after courage: the courage to grieve, to love again, to start a life from the foundations up. Hareclough Heights is a tender portrait of a community mending, where memory and hope share the same table.