Plot
When her parents and younger sister Jess move to colonial Singapore, Judith Dunbar is enrolled in St. Ursula's, an English boarding school, where she makes friends with classmate Loveday Carey-Lewis. Loveday invites her to visit Nancherrow, Loveday's parents' magnificent Cornwall estate. Soon, she is spending more time at Nancherrow than with her legal guardian, Aunt Louise. When Aunt Louise is killed in an automobile accident, Judith inherits her considerable estate, meaning she can live as an independent woman for the rest of her life. She moves into Nancherrow permanently.
Judith is in love with Loveday's older brother Edward. Believing he loves her too, she has sex with him. When he makes it clear he has no interest in marriage, she packs her bag and leaves Nancherrow. A year later, World War II is in progress and Judith is a WREN. She meets Edward again and he proposes marriage but before she gives him an answer, Edward's plane is shot down. Blinded, he commits suicide rather than be a burden to others. When Loveday's fiancé Gus goes missing in action she believes he is dead, and marries her farmer friend, Walter.
On leave in London, Judith meets Jeremy Wells, a doctor who was a frequent visitor to Nancherrow. They make love that night, but Jeremy is posted overseas and they do not see each other for some time. He writes her a letter, declaring his love for her and asking if she will marry him after the war. When she does not reply, he assumes her answer is no—but in fact, the letter never arrived, having been lost in battle.
As the war ends, Judith anxiously seeks news of her family, who were caught in the Fall of Singapore. She learns that her father died in Changi in 1942, and that her sister has been found in Australia. When Judith collects Jess from the authorities, she is mute. Seeking help for Jess, Judith meets Jeremy, who is working in his father's general practice. He advises patience. Soon after, Judith has a breakthrough and Jess is able to tell her that their mother drowned when their ship was torpedoed. Jeremy comes to check on Jess and in conversation with Judith, discovers that she never received the letter. He declares his love and she accepts him joyously.
Rosamunde Pilcher, OBE was a British novelist, best known for her sweeping novels set in Cornwall. Her books have sold over 60 million copies worldwide. Early in her career she was published under the pen name Jane Fraser. In 2001, she received the Corine Literature Prize's Weltbild Readers' Prize for Winter Solstice.
Bridge to Terabithia is a children's novel written by Katherine Paterson, about two children named Leslie and Jesse who create a magical forest kingdom in their imaginations. The book was originally published in 1977 by Thomas Crowell, and in 1978, it won the Newbery Medal. Paterson drew inspiration for the novel from a real event that occurred in August 1974 when her son's friend was struck and killed by lightning.
Earl of March is a title that has been created several times, respectively, in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derives from the "marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales or Scotland, and it was held by several great feudal families which owned lands in those districts. Later, however, the title came to be granted as an honorary dignity, and ceased to carry any associated power in the marches.
The Secret Storm is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from February 1, 1954, to February 8, 1974. It was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life. Gloria Monty, of General Hospital fame, was a longtime director of the series.
Of Human Bondage is a 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The novel is generally agreed to be Maugham's masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although he stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography; though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention." Maugham, who had originally planned to call his novel Beauty from Ashes, finally settled on a title taken from a section of Spinoza's Ethics. The Modern Library ranked Of Human Bondage No. 66 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Mr. Mulliner Speaking is a collection of nine short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the United Kingdom on April 30, 1929, by Herbert Jenkins, and in the United States on February 21, 1930, by Doubleday, Doran. The stories were originally published in magazines in the UK and the US between 1924 and 1929.
The Loveday Scandals is the fourth book in the Loveday series written by Kate Tremayne.
Love Among the Chickens is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published as a book in the United Kingdom in June 1906 by George Newnes, London, and in the United States by Circle Publishing, New York, on 11 May 1909. It had already appeared there as a serial in Circle magazine between September 1908 and March 1909. The English edition was dedicated "to Sir Bargrave and Lady Deane"; the Rt Hon Sir Henry Bargrave Deane QC was a High Court judge and a cousin of Wodehouse's mother.
Manservant and Maidservant is a 1947 novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett. It was published in the United States with the title Bullivant and the Lambs.
Nancherrow is a TV movie sequel to Rosamunde Pilcher's Coming Home. It aired on ITV television from 4 to 5 April 1999.
A Family Thing is a 1996 American drama film starring Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones and Irma P. Hall. It was written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson and directed by Richard Pearce.
Loveday is a name, thought to derive from Old English Leofdaeg or alternatively Lief Tag. Leofdaeg is composed of the words leof meaning dear/beloved or precious and daeg meaning day. Lief Tag literally translates to Love Day, and is thought to have existed in eastern Britain from around the 7th century.
Silent Sanderson is a 1925 American silent Western film featuring Harry Carey.
Three Godfathers is a 1936 American Western film directed by Richard Boleslawski and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan, and Irene Hervey. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Peter B. Kyne. Three bank robbers find a newborn baby and his dying mother in the desert.
Rumors is a young adult novel by author Anna Godbersen. It is the second book in The Luxe series.
Regiment of Women is the debut novel of Winifred Ashton writing as Clemence Dane. First published in 1917, the novel has gained some notoriety due to its more or less veiled treatment of lesbian relationships inside and outside a school setting. It is said to have inspired Radclyffe Hall to write The Well of Loneliness.
The Weather in the Streets is a novel by Rosamond Lehmann which was first published in 1936. When it was published it was an instant best-seller, selling particularly well in France.
The Seventh Day is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Henry King and starring Richard Barthelmess, Louise Huff, Frank Losee and Anne Cornwall. A group of high society New Yorkers on a yachting vacation put into a small New England fishing village for repairs. While there they strike up relationships with locals that threaten the harmony of their party.
