The Dark Arches

In the far-off 1950s, Irish shop girl Rosa Sheridan is seduced under the arches of Clondarra's village bridge. To escape from the stigma of being a fallen woman, she escapes to England, where she makes a new life for herself in Hawksmoor. But she can never forget the baby which she was persuaded to give up for adoption – particularly when her happy marriage does not bring her the children she longs for.

Twenty years later Rosa is a successful businesswoman, but her life becomes interwoven with three women from her past:  Greta Holyoak, childless wife of a prominent local man, who had arranged the adoption of her child all those years ago; Dorothy Challis, who had adopted the child, only to have longed for a son of her own; and Lucy, the child herself. As these women work out their destinies, the dark arches once more cast a shadow over their lives.

‘‘Hawksmoor’ is the fictional name for the industrial Yorkshire town of Huddersfield where I grew up,’ says the author Aileen Armitage.  ‘I was captivated by its history and the curious fact that the town was owned by one family right up until the 1920’s. My dad used to tell me tales as we walked on the surrounding moors about our family’s climb from rags to riches and their subsequent decline. Can I help it if my passion for the West Riding and its history shows a story of love and hatred, tragedy and triumph?’