Life and Love at Mulberry Lane

Rosie Clarke

Description

The BRAND NEW instalment in the bestselling Mulberry Lane series!

With Mulberry Lane's favourite pub, The Pig & Whistle undergoing renovation, proprietors Peggy and Able Ronoscki leave the chaos behind and head off on a trip of a lifetime to America. But disaster hits and Peggy finds herself in a critical condition in hospital.
Meanwhile, business is booming for young entrepreneurs Fay Ronoscki and Maggie Rowan with their new restaurant and catering empire. It seems neither has time for love.
But when fate throws a famous global singing sensation and glamourous racing car driver into the girls paths, falling in love with Jace and Greg seems beyond their control. Cupid has struck.
Life is made up of laughter, love and tears.
What is next for the folk of Mulberry Lane - can they find the happiness they all so crave?
Another passionate tearjerker from Rosie Clarke in the Mulberry Lane series.

Sujets

• Mashups
• Rock Stars
• 20th Century
• World Literature
• Medical
• Historical
• Women
• Inglaterra
• América
• Friendship
• Workplace
• Historical fiction
• Woman
• Medicine
• The Women
• American
• Sagas
• Family Life
• Romance
• England
• Saga
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 02 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781804157350
• Langue: English

Extrait

LIFE AND LOVE AT MULBERRY LANE


ROSIE CLARKE
CONTENTS



Author’s Reminder


Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34


More from Rosie Clarke

About the Author

Also by Rosie Clarke

Sixpence Stories

About Boldwood Books
AUTHOR’S REMINDER

This is book number nine in the Mulberry series so we thought it might help to have a little recap for readers. Some of you won’t need it, others might find it helpful.
Main Characters
Peggy’s family:
Peggy and Able Ronoscki and their twins, Freddie and Fay. Peggy’s eldest daughter, Janet, and her brother, Pip, by her first husband, Laurie.
Peggy is now in her sixties, Able is a couple of years younger. The twins are now 19. Janet is 39 and Pip is 37; they both have children.
Maggie is Janet’s daughter by her first husband and Peggy’s first grandchild and is now 21. Janet and Ryan, her second husband, have a son, Jon.
Pip is married to Sheila, they have two children, Chris and Cathy. Pip works as an aeronautical designer.
Peggy has always run the Pig & Whistle pub in Mulberry Lane in the East End of London, apart from a period when she went away to the seaside and Sheila ran the pub. However, in 1958, Maggie and Fay started to take over. Peggy also has a boarding house, which is managed by Pearl. Pearl’s mother, Mrs Maggs, helps at the Pig & Whistle washing up. Able has a partnership with Tom Barton in the building trade.



* * *
Maureen’s family:
Maureen is in her late forties and Gordon is slightly older. Gordon’s daughter, Shirley, is in her late twenties now and Maureen and Gordon’s son, Gordy, is a teenager. Maureen also had a son, Robin, (not Gordon’s) but he died of a childhood illness.
Gordon is suffering from a weakness of a heart muscle but is better than he was in the last book. He still manages the grocery shop that came to them through Maureen’s family, but it is much bigger now, though he only goes in for an hour or two and has a youthful manager. Maureen still helps out in the pub and the restaurant kitchen sometimes. Shirley is a doctor and married to Ray.



* * *
The Barton family:
Tom and Rose Barton have two children, Molly and Jackie or these days, Jack. Tom and Able are now partners in a building business and doing well. Rose sometimes helps out in the pub kitchens. She and Maureen are Peggy’s best friends and they’ve always done things together. They are several years younger than Peggy and Maureen and in their thirties.
All the characters are well and continuing to thrive now that life is so much better after the long years of war. This is a time when things aren’t too bad for folk in Mulberry Lane, but, of course, life always has surprises round the corner…
1

It was really happening at last. Peggy looked around the Pig & Whistle’s old-fashioned bar, which was about to be pulled out as part of the refurbishment she’d promised Maggie would happen if her business warranted it. The downstairs parlour, which was never used, would become the bar for the regulars of the pub and this would form part of an extended restaurant, using some of the back yard. It was a big change, but the delicious meals that her daughter and granddaughter were now serving brought in too many customers to fit into the bar as it stood.
‘We’ll have to do it, hon.’ Able, Peggy’s easy-going and much-loved husband, put his arm around her waist. ‘We promised we’d come up with the money if their business expanded and it most certainly has.’ He’d done his part by purchasing the building from the brewery in order to let their dreams happen.
‘I can’t believe it’s more than two years since they started to take over,’ Peggy admitted with a sigh. ‘I never imagined they would stick to it the way they have, especially Fay. You know what she is like for changing her mind.’
Fay was their daughter and Freddie’s twin, but Maggie was that bit older and the child of Peggy’s eldest daughter Janet, who was her first husband’s offspring. Laurie had been long dead now and was a part of Peggy’s memories that centred here in the bar of the Pig & Whistle in Mulberry Lane, but there were so many more memories – so much love, laughter and pain. Especially during the war years when she’d taken people down to her cellar for safety as the bombs fell. The pictures flitted through Peggy’s mind as she let her eyes travel the room and she saw her friends as they had been so many times, drinking, talking, sharing their lives with her, some of them still enjoying life, others gone now but not forgotten. She shook her head. Life moved on and it was foolish to cling to the past. The Pig & Whistle was a thriving business and she must celebrate that, not feel regret for what had gone before.
‘Are you ready, hon?’ Able’s voice broke Peggy’s reverie and she met his eager gaze and nodded. ‘All packed? Got everything you need?’
‘Yes, I made a list,’ Peggy replied, a lift in her voice as she felt a flutter of excitement. ‘And I know the taxi will be here in fifteen minutes.’
‘Good. I’d hate for us to miss our plane.’



* * *
It was the spring of 1961, and Peggy had more or less handed over the reins, leaving the business of running the Pig & Whistle to Fay and Maggie. Now, she was about to leave for the most exciting trip in her life. Able was taking her to America and they would actually be flying first class. It was the holiday of a lifetime and had cost the earth, but Able said they could afford it and he was so happy that Peggy had given in to his persuasion. She’d thought that flying was for VIPs, like famous footballers and film stars and she was worried that it could be dangerous, but Able told her that within a very few years everyone would be doing it and only a few aeroplanes actually crashed, so she had given in. She felt a frisson of excitement as she realised it was really happening.
‘Mum,’ Freddie’s voice interrupted her thoughts. ‘You haven’t forgotten I’m off to the coast this weekend?’
‘No, of course not, love.’ Peggy turned to look at her youngest son. Freddie had shot up these past months and looked like a confident young man. Before he started his new university course, he was going to take a casual job at the coast. He’d applied to be a lifeguard on a beach in Hastings, Sussex, and had secured the job, which made Peggy both proud and anxious, though she knew he could swim well and would receive training once he joined the team. Freddie wanted to be a sports teacher and to direct his spare time to helping those less fortunate children, who had a physical or mental impediment. He’d already joined a club in London that helped disabled kids and spent three evenings a week there. ‘I’ve packed your cases for you and your father has put some money into your bank account,’ she answered with a look of affection.
‘Thanks, Mum. You always pack better than me – but that wasn’t what I meant. It means I shan’t be around for a while… and you and Dad are going away. The girls will be on their own – do you think they can manage? Should I put my trip off until later?’
‘Maggie is very sensible,’ Peggy told him. He was always so thoughtful of others. ‘Maureen and Rose will still be around – and Tom. You go and have a wonderful time, Freddie. Those girls will be fine.’ Maureen and Rose were Peggy’s best friends and she knew they would be on hand. Tom Barton was Able’s business partner – they built houses and flats as well as restoring old property now – and he had turned into a very capable man these days and was someone she could rely on.
‘If you’re sure.’ Freddie grinned. ‘Fay told me not to be an old woman and quit worrying about her.’
‘Then you should,’ Peggy assured him.
‘Okay, if you say so.’
He nodded, walking off with his shoulders straight. He was as tall as Able now but would be broader and heavier as he grew. Freddie ate a lot but was very active; running, playing football and lifting weights had made him strong and muscular. It seemed to Peggy that girls must find her son an attractive young man and she wondered if she ought to worry whether he would be led astray in this glamorous beach job he’d taken. Freddie knew what he wanted of life – and yet he had a tender heart, which might easily be broken.
‘Penny for your thoughts, hon?’ Able’s caressing tones made her look at him and shake her head.
‘The twins are growing up so fast…’ was all she could say, but a smile of understanding came to her husband’s face.
‘Freddie will be fine,’ he replied. ‘And so will Fay. She is too busy to get into much trouble – and Freddie never does.’
‘I know…’ Peggy laughed. ‘They’ve both done so well in their own ways. Freddie’s job this summer will help him with his sports training and a lifeguard has to be prepared for all sorts, so it is a good experience for him.’
‘It is what he wants,’ Able said. ‘He was so good last year, giving up his time to go to France with Fay for that special cooking course. Mind you, I think they had a wonderful time out there.’
‘I often wonder what they got up to that we don’t know about,’ Peggy said, brows lifted. ‘Freddie kept Fay in line, I am certain – but I know something went on with her out there – but tneither of them tell tales about the other.’
‘Whatever it was, Freddie handled it,’ Able replied, a sparkle in his eyes. ‘And now she is trying to make her bit of the partnership work. At the moment Maggie is paying their way; I know Fay, she won’t be pleased with that for long. She’ll need to be on her toes to bring in the extra business.’
Peggy nodded her agreement.