The Potter's Niece

Thrilling women's writing that transports you to eighteenth century England.

Over twenty years after the The Drayton Legacy, eighteenth century life in the potteries continues. Joseph Drayton is dead and has been replaced as Master Potter by his lame brother Martin. Max Freeman is presumed dead and now Olivia, the daughter he never knew, fights a solitary battle against prejudice and the avaricious ambitions of her mother, the pretty, selfish Phoebe. Olivia’s decision to abandon her claim to the Tremain estates and join the Drayton Pottery shocks her family. She will be relegated to the lowest of labourers in her uncle’s firm. While Olivia works her way up from the humblest ranks, the Freemans — united with the Draytons through marriage — are involved in schemes and feuds. Agatha, widow of Joseph Drayton, hopes to procure the Tremain inheritance for her dilettante son Lionel, while Lionel himself wonders why his father’s body was found naked in an outhouse so many years before. Phoebe defrauds her mother-in-law and is torn between the security of her home at Tremain Hall and the charms of a new lover, Roger Acland. Meanwhile, Olivia can love only one man, the village farrier who has returned from a mysterious past in America, with complications in his personal life creating obstacles in hers. The Potter's Niece is a study of human emotions at their most raw — jealousy and greed; love and despair. Rona Randall was born in Cheshire, but grew up in London. She won a scholarship to a local college of art, but circumstances prevented her from taking this up and she took a secretarial course which she hated. She studied drama under the late Frank Forbes-Robertson and became an actress for a time. After this she worked as a secretary in an editorial office, then became a journalist, before moving on to writing fiction. She is married to a Chartered Quantity Surveyor, and has one son and two grandchildren. She lives in Kent. Rona Randall has herself progressed, through pottery, to become an accomplished modeller in ceramics, and the unusual background of The Potter's Niece is one she knows well.  Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now. 

Set in rural 18th century England, this romantic novel chronicles the lives of two families related by marriage: the aristocratic Freemans and the bourgeois Draytons, who employ most of the local residents at their pottery. Charlotte Freeman (heritrix of Tremain Hall) must decide whether to leave her vast holdings to her granddaughter Olivia or to Olivia's cousin Lionel. Her decision becomes moot when Olivia withdraws from the running; a decidedly modern woman, she will pursue a career as a potter. Lionel is just starting to relish his role as heir when Max Freeman, Olivia's father who disappeared years earlier, returns with his illegitimate son Miguel, claiming Tremain Hall as his. Max's return prompts a murder and provides the solution to a crime committed years ago. Randall is adept at juggling the many characters and subplots but the novel has an element of unreality, seemingly more 20th than 18th century in its tone.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.