Hearts of Glass Series by Clare Flynn

In this heart-wrenching and utterly spellbinding story of love and artistic ambition, a young woman fights to be true to herself in a world where duty, money and class jeopardise her dreams.England, 1908: Alice Dalton never intended to rebel against her aristocratic parents... moreIn this heart-wrenching and utterly spellbinding story of love and artistic ambition, a young woman fights to be true to herself in a world where duty, money and class jeopardise her dreams.England, 1908: Alice Dalton never intended to rebel against her aristocratic parents. But after her father’s failed attempt to arrange a marriage for her with Edmund Cutler, son of a wealthy stockbroker, she flees the family home humiliated – and determined to make a life for herself as an independent woman, however hard that might be.When a chance opportunity leads to her taking a position as a stained-glass artist’s apprentice, Alice is stunned when she meets the man she’ll be working for; the hateful Edmund Cutler. It seems he too has turned his back on his family and has followed his passion for art, and at terrible cost.But as they work together, mixing paints and composing their stained-glass window commissions side by side, she finds herself softening towards him, and can’t ignore the sparks that fly between them. With family conflict brewing and war on the horizon, soon Alice finds that loving Edmund proves the hardest fight, and greatest adventure, of her life.A gripping historical novel for fans of Fiona Valpy, Rhys Bowen and Lucinda Riley.The Artist’s Apprentice was previously published as The Colour of Glass. less

Hampshire, 1916: Alice traces her hand over the cold glass of the window as the pale morning light slips into the empty room. The pain of loss is worse than a physical one. Reminders of Edmund are all around her. The coldness of the sheet on the other half of the bed. The unrelenting silence in the cottage when her stepdaughter Lottie is at school or tucked up asleep at the end of another day... moreHampshire, 1916: Alice traces her hand over the cold glass of the window as the pale morning light slips into the empty room. The pain of loss is worse than a physical one. Reminders of Edmund are all around her. The coldness of the sheet on the other half of the bed. The unrelenting silence in the cottage when her stepdaughter Lottie is at school or tucked up asleep at the end of another day.How did Alice ever imagine she could run their workshop in Edmund’s absence? Keeping up with their stained-glass commissions takes every ounce of her strength and ingenuity, and as Lottie becomes more withdrawn, Alice worries desperately about how best to care for the troubled girl.Alice takes comfort from renewed closeness with her brother Victor, whose injuries prevent him from re-joining the fight, and who is enmeshed in undercover work for the Ministry of Munitions. She must go on, for Lottie, for Edmund, and for the life as artists they’ve built together. But with the news from the Front more desperate every day, she knows that the chance that she’ll ever see Edmund again is slipping away from her.And then the telegram arrives…From the trenches of France to the fraught Home Front in rural England and London, The Artist’s War is an unforgettable story of a society in the midst of devastating upheaval, and of courage in extraordinary times. Fans of Fiona Davis, Rhys Bowen and Kristin Hannah will adore this gripping historical love story. less