books in order

Catrin Collier Books In Order

Hearts of Gold Books In Order

  1. Hearts of Gold (1992)
  2. One Blue Moon (1993)
  3. A Silver Lining (1996)
  4. All That Glitters (1995)
  5. Such Sweet Sorrow (1996)
  6. Past Remembering (1997)
  7. Broken Rainbows (1993)
  8. Spoils of War (2000)
  9. Magda’s Daughter (2008)
  10. Bobby’s Girl (2009)

Farcreek Books In Order

  1. Lady Luck (1995)
  2. Lady Lay (1995)
  3. Lady Chance (1995)

Grand Books In Order

  1. The Grand (1997)
  2. Under New Management (1998)

Swansea Girls Books In Order

  1. Swansea Girls (2001)
  2. Swansea Summer (2002)
  3. Homecoming (2003)

Rhondda Valley Books In Order

  1. Beggars and Choosers (2003)
  2. Winners and Losers (2004)
  3. Sinners and Shadows (2004)
  4. Finders and Keepers (2005)

Tiger Bay Books In Order

  1. Tiger Bay Blues (2006)
  2. Tiger Ragtime (2006)

Long Road to Baghdad Books In Order

  1. The Long Road to Baghdad (2013)
  2. Winds of Eden (2014)
  3. Scorpion Sunset (2015)

Tsar’s Dragons Books In Order

  1. The Tsar’s Dragons (2014)
  2. Princes and Peasants (2016)
  3. A Dragon’s Legacy (2019)

GLYNDR Books In Order

  1. The Fortold Son (2019)
  2. Glorious Shall Their Dragon Be (2020)
  3. My Child’s Child to Weep (2021)

Novels

  1. One Last Summer (2007)
  2. Wake Wood (2014)

Novellas

  1. Poppies at the Well (1993)
  2. Christmas Eve in the Workhouse (2013)

Hearts of Gold Book Covers

Farcreek Book Covers

Grand Book Covers

Swansea Girls Book Covers

Rhondda Valley Book Covers

Tiger Bay Book Covers

Long Road to Baghdad Book Covers

Tsar’s Dragons Book Covers

GLYNDR Book Covers

Novels Book Covers

Novellas Book Covers

Catrin Collier Books Overview

Hearts of Gold

Trainee midwife Bethan Powell lives in the shadow of the workhouse during the Depression. It’s difficult to say which is harder for her and fellow nurse Laura Ronconi their grueling work in the hospital, or the frictions and financial hardships at home. Bethan’s Communist miner father, rigidly Chapel mother, unruly brothers, and delightful but dubiously honest aunt, and Laura’s vast Italian caf running family, cause the girls as much worry as any difficult case or strict ward sister. But working class Pontypridd agrees on one thing the ‘crache,’ or gentry, who live in the big houses on the Common, may be just the other side of town, but they inhabit a different world. So when Bethan and Laura are smitten by two young doctors, can love really bridge the divide? Or is the pull of family too strong, the gulf too wide?

One Blue Moon

Maud Powell and her cousin Diana had always dreamed of becoming nurses, but their hopes are shattered when Maud contracts TB a death sentence in 1930s’ Pontypridd. With pits closing, Haydn abandoning a steady job for a stage career, and their cousin Diana’s secret burden, the Powell family are facing hard times. Meanwhile Ronnie Ronconi, eldest of the large, cafe owning family, has two simple beliefs: his sisters must marry good Italian Catholics, and determination and hard work will get him anything he wants. But his dreams are shattered when he realises that what he wants is Welsh, chapel going, consumptive Maud. For once, high handed, ruthless Ronnie seems to be facing the impossible.

A Silver Lining

In strictly chapel Pontypridd in 1938, tongues are quick to wag when Alma Moore, abandoned by her lover, is rushed to hospital with stomach pains. The doctor may call it appendicitis, but the scandal-mongers think they know better. And then Bethan John, who’s too good for the rest of them since she married a doctor, comes back to her mining family’s house with her new baby-but without her husband, or any word of explanation. Ostracized by most-even their own mothers-Alma and Bethan face a lonely struggle to survive. Then taciturn Russian Charlie, an outsider haunted by his own past, reaches out the hand of friendship to them both, and in so doing begins to thaw his own heart.

All That Glitters

In 1939, Haydn Powell returns to his native Pontypridd as a star for the summer season. It is his dream come true, but is soon soured when he finds his family divided. Haydn seeks consolation with the theater crowd, but is also drawn to Jane, a young waif lodging with his family. But Jane is haunted by poverty and burdened by bitter secrets. Then there is Haydn’s childhood sweetheart, Jenny, who is determined to win him back. She tries to make him jealous by flirting with his brother, the hot headed boxer Eddie. But it is Jenny’s reckless pursuit of her own ends that creates a dangerous tension in a town already braced for war.

Such Sweet Sorrow

In Pontypridd, in 1939, blackouts and conscription are beginning to strain the community. And three women are separated perhaps forever from the men they love. Jenny Powell’s husband, Eddie, abandoned her on her wedding night, and she must struggle to cope alone. Italian Tina Ronconi’s sweetheart enlists, and she and her sister face internment as enemy aliens. And Bethan’s doctor husband is called up, leaving her, along with all the women, with endless worry and fear. Forced to adjust to a world at all, all they can do is wait. Then comes news of the Allies’ retreat at Dunkirk and, for many, life will never be the same again.

Past Remembering

1941. In Pontypridd, Ronnie Ronconi has returned home from war torn Italy. The family are certain he will once again take charge of the family in his own forceful way, but Ronnie’s escape from Italy has left him a much changed man. He accepts the rights and freedoms of his younger siblings as he never has before, and even finds time to help others, particularly Alma, whose husband has been sent on a most dangerous mission. After the loss of his beloved wife, Ronnie is certain he will never look at a woman again; he certainly doesn’t expect to fall in love particularly with the wife of a friend. Diana is locked in an unhappy marriage but can Ronnie and Diana put their own personal happiness ahead of that of an entire family?

Broken Rainbows

It is 1942 and, in the wake of America’s entry into the war, the small community of Pontypridd suffers its own not entirely welcome GI invasion. The South Carolina Regiment billeted on the town soon cuts a swathe through its women, living up to GI’s reputation as ‘over paid, over sexed and over here.’ For Bethan, whose husband is a POW in Germany, and her friend Alma, whose husband is missing, the arrival of the American officers brings new and dangerous friendships. While for Jenny, a bitter young war widow, it is a chance to bury her grief in a series of one night stands. The women are caught between loyalty to their men folk and the very real attraction of the GIs, and when tragedy strikes the mines, the tension reaches breaking point.

Spoils of War

It is 1946 and the soldiers who have been away for the war are beginning to return to Pontypridd. But not all the reunions are happy. Bethan’s lingering feelings for an American officer make it hard for her to readjust to married life. Tony’s fiancee, a German refugee, arrives in Pontypridd to find herself shunned by all. And when she discovers Tony has lied to her, she must face the possibility that he is only marrying her to spite his family. Meanwhile, Alma and Charlie receive devastating news, which throws their whole world into confusion and leaves Charlie to make an impossible choice. As the people of Pontypridd struggle to rebuild their lives, they discover that the end of war only marks the beginning of another more personal struggle.

Magda’s Daughter

The secret Magda carried to her grave threatens her daughter’s happiness in this wonderful saga set in Pontypridd. Stateless and destitute after World War II, Magda Janek settled in Pontypridd, in the hope of building a new life for herself and her baby daughter, Helena. All Magda had to give Helena were the ambitions she had once cherished for herself; dreams cruelly snatched from her while she was still in her teens. But 1960s Pontypridd was a bright, vibrant, and very different world to the one Magda had been born into. At 21 Helena Janek had beauty, confidence, education, friends, and opportunities beyond even her mother’s wildest imaginings. With a university degree behind her, a coveted teaching post in her old grammar school, and marriage to the love of her life, Dr. Eddie John, the son of an old Pontypridd family to look forward to, Helena couldn’t have been happier. Until tragedy robbed her of the only family she had ever known and everything she had ever believed in; uncovering a bitter secret Magda had carried to her grave. A secret that threatened to destroy Helena’s future, sanity, and love for Eddie just as surely as it had destroyed her peace of mind. And all Eddie could do was stand by impotently, no longer able to even reach Helena, let alone help her.

Swansea Girls

On Saturday nights, the Pier Ballroom in Swansea is the place to be. As the girls and boys gather, we are introduced to Lily, an evacuee unclaimed by her family at the end of the war; to Judy, taught independence by her war widow mother; for Katie, the product of a marriage between a drunken, violent father and a coward, beaten mother; and for the spoiled, willful Helen. It is an evening that fuels jealousies and sows the seeds for friendships, confidences, and romance.

Swansea Summer

In the Swansea of the fifties, there is only one thing for a boy to do when he gets a girl ‘into trouble’ and that is to marry her and quickly. Blighted by an unhappy childhood, passionately in love for the first time in his life, Jack can t wait to do ‘the right thing’. A happy family of his own is all he ever wanted but not even in his wildest dreams did he envisage a wife like Helen. Beautiful, intelligent and loving, Helen is headstrong enough to defy her family and convention for Jack and, when her father gives them his blessing, their future beckons assured and glittering until tragedy strikes and tears them apart.

Beggars and Choosers

‘I warn you, and it is a solemn warning. Leave me, and you and who ever you run to will suffer. I have a husband’s rights under God’s law: ‘and those whom God has joined together let no man break asunder.’ ‘ In Pontypridd and the Rhondda in 1905 coal is king and the families who sunk the first collieries are rich. None is wealthier or more generous a benefactor than Harry Watkin Jones. At 20, Sali Watkin Jones is about to marry her childhood sweetheart, Mansel, a young and successful businessman, in Pontypridd’s wedding of the year. But as tragedy follows tragedy, four short and traumatic years later Sali becomes a penniless outcast fleeing from a violent husband and struggling to support herself and her son in a world very different to the one in which she has been brought up. Sali finds work in the home of a family of colliers. Here she and her son find the warmth and love missing from their lives for so long. As the miners’ wages are eroded by the greed of the companies that have replaced private owners, unrest and violence come to the valleys. Caught up in the conflict, Sali finds herself denying her roots, her class and even sacrificing her son’s future for the sake of the people she loves and the cause they are prepared to die for.

Winners and Losers

Tonypandy in 1910 is a town of poverty, hardship, and strife, garrisoned by troops brought in to control the striking miners whose anger all too frequently erupts into bouts of violence and rioting. Megan Williams is 18 and in love with the boy next door, Victor Evans. But Megan’s father would rather see his daughter dead than married to a Catholic, particularly one whose father and brother are marked as strike ringleaders. Tempers and violence flare on both sides of the dispute. Caught in the middle, Victor and Megan find themselves fighting for the right to love one another, remain together and build a future they can share.

Sinners and Shadows

Orphaned at eight, raised by a brutal sad*istic brother, nineteen year old parlour maid, Rhian, dreams of meeting a man who will love her and give her what she wants more than anything else in the world, a family of her own. When she is invited to join the Evans family on New Year’s Eve 1913, her life is thrown into turmoil. The youngest Evans’ brother, twenty two year old Joey, confesses he loves her. Handsome, charming Joey has never met a woman who could refuse him anything. But Rhian is suspicious of his reputation as a ladies’ man and it takes time, tenderness and persistence to win her trust. Just when she finally admits that she loves him as much as he loves her, Joey’s past overshadows and finally shatters their happiness. Unable to separate truth from lies, wanting to hurt Joey as deeply as he has her, Rhian turns to her employer, Edward Larch, for solace. Unhappily married, Edward offers her the only position he can, that of his mistress. Her choice is simple and irrevocable to forgo love, her reputation as a ‘respectable girl’ and all chance of a settled family life for the sake of financial security. When Europe is plunged into war, even the lives of the people in Tonypandy are affected. But no matter how dangerous the conditions or how many hours she works, she cannot stop thinking about the man she loved who betrayed her and the problems peace will bring.

Finders and Keepers

Harry Evans’s first years of life were blighted by a brutal stepfather. At the age of five his mother, Sali, married a miner, Lloyd Evans, a passionate believer in workers’ rights. When he returns to Pontypridd after school, he finds that his beloved ‘grandfather,’ ex miner Billy Evans, has lung disease, and when Billy is sent to a sanatorium in the Welsh Hills, the only one free to accompany him is Harry. There Harry meets two very different women: Diana, a feminist medical student, and Mary, an illiterate, orphaned farmer’s daughter. For the first time in his life Harry falls in love, only to suffer rejection. Harry turns to Billy for consolation, and as his relationship with the old man deepens, he learns about life, love, and the responsibility that comes with inherited wealth. But he also discovers the responsibility each man owes to himself to live his life as he, and no one else, sees fit.

One Last Summer

Based on the life of Catrin Collier’s mother and grandmother, this powerful novel spans more than 60 years, from the life of grandmother Charlotte to her journalist granddaughter, Laura. We revisit Charlotte’s incredible life which starts in East Prussia in 1939 and ends in modern day England. Allenstein, East Prussia, 1939-Charlotte von Datski’s parents hold a glittering ball to celebrate her 18th birthday and to announce her engagement to a Prussian Count. But Hitler is about to plunge the world into war-and East Prussia will be wiped from the face of the map. Charlotte is forced to leave behind her beloved homeland and flee to England. By 1946, Charlotte finds herself in London with her young son, struggling to adapt to a new country and a new way of life. But she carries a secret that both strengthens and torments her-and when a book entitled One Last Summer is smuggled out of a Russian prison camp and becomes an instant international bestseller, that secret is revealed. The book tells of an affair between a Russian POW and a Prussian aristocrat. Years on, Charlotte’s granddaughter, Laura, comes across material relating to these events and persuades her grandmother to embark on a journey into her past. As Charlotte recalls the one great love of her life, she finally faces the demons that have haunted her for more than half a century.

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