Catrin Collier Books in Order

A bloodstained amnesiac's military knowledge makes him a suspected terrorist, and the deaths of his guards trigger a manhunt. Psychiatrist Elizabeth Santer is taken with him to Wales, where uncovering his identity becomes essential to her survival.

Four young women arrive at Swansea's Pier Ballroom carrying very different family histories and hopes. A Saturday evening of dancing begins friendships and romances, while jealousy and the pressures of life in postwar Wales complicate their journeys toward adulthood.

In 1950s Swansea, Jack marries Helen after she becomes pregnant, hoping to create the secure family his own childhood lacked. Their happiness appears assured despite their different backgrounds, until a tragedy places unbearable strain on the life they have begun together.

Sali, a wealthy coal owner's daughter, returns to the Rhondda penniless after escaping a violent husband. Shelter with a mining family offers a fresh start, but industrial unrest and her concealed background threaten the security she hopes to build for her son.

Helen welcomes Jack home from National Service in 1957, eager to resume married life among their friends. His confession that another woman is pregnant fractures that reunion, forcing Helen to weigh divorce against an unexpected possibility for their future.

Orphaned Rhian escapes her cruel brother's household by trusting the charming Joey Evans, only to discover that affection offers little protection from betrayal. Her married employer presents another possible refuge, forcing a choice between financial safety, social standing, and love.

During the Rhondda miners' strike of 1910, Megan loves a Catholic striker while working in a house lodging police and soldiers. Religious hostility, family rejection, and divided loyalties place their relationship under pressure as the conflict spreads through the community.

Raised in a socialist mining household, Harry unexpectedly inherits his father's wealth and studies art at Oxford. Encounters with illness, a determined medical student, and a farmer's daughter challenge his understanding of privilege, responsibility, and the future he wants.

Eighteen-year-old Edyth gives up plans for college to marry a curate and accompany him to Cardiff's Tiger Bay. Amid the docklands' poverty and cultural diversity, she discovers a secret about her husband that threatens their marriage and her faith in him.

Aspiring performer Judy Hamilton and ambitious newcomer David Ellis seek better lives in Depression-era Cardiff. Tiger Bay's nightclubs offer opportunity, but a ruthless promoter's assistance comes at a price, exposing the risks beneath their hopes of money and success.

Charlotte's life in East Prussia is overturned by war, exile, and the loss of the future she expected. Decades later, her granddaughter Laura uncovers the family's concealed past, drawing Charlotte back toward the homeland and love she left behind.

Irish worker Tom Kelly falls for Amy, the daughter of a strike leader, in the aftermath of Tonypandy's industrial conflict. His association with strikebreakers and mounting hostility toward Irish workers make their secret relationship increasingly dangerous for them both.

In Mesopotamia before the First World War, Lieutenant Harry Downe negotiates with a Bedouin sheikh and becomes involved with his daughter Furja. Their unexpected love faces resistance from both families and British officers as war transforms the region around them.

Museum director Adam Salen receives an offer to buy a legendary knight encased in amber, missing since the Second World War. His effort to recover the relic draws him and his assistant into murders, criminal dealings, and a centuries-old mystery.

Welsh nobleman Owain Glyndwr is a husband, father, lawyer, and soldier before becoming a leader of resistance. This historical novel explores the family loyalties and personal sacrifices behind his struggle to secure his country's independence from English rule.

Owain Glyndwr continues his struggle for Welsh independence as English soldiers threaten his people and the land they defend. Military danger and family ties complicate his leadership, testing the sacrifices demanded by the hope of a free Wales.

Returning from captivity after the First World War, Wolf Mau discovers a killer targeting demobilized soldiers in Konigsberg. With police officials distracted by politics, he investigates the torture and murders before he and his surviving comrades become the next victims.

Welsh industrialist John Hughes accepts an invitation to build an ironworks in the Russian Empire, drawing workers to a new settlement in Ukraine. Migrants seeking opportunity encounter aristocratic power, ethnic prejudice, and unfamiliar neighbors as their fortunes become intertwined.

British troops retreat into Kut in 1915, leaving soldiers besieged and their families desperate for news. Men involved in the relief effort confront hunger, danger, and personal loyalties as loved ones wait to learn whether the trapped garrison can be saved.

Following the surrender at Kut, British prisoners endure a punishing march toward Turkey. Survivors and their families confront illness, separation, and uncertain futures, while Harry Downe's marriage to a Bedouin woman complicates the life he hopes to recover after war.

As Hughesovka expands around its ironworks, new arrivals from Wales unsettle established relationships and ambitions. Welsh workers, Russian aristocrats, and Jewish families pursue security and belonging, while prejudice and competing loyalties threaten the community taking shape around them.

Welsh migrants and their neighbors have built lives around Hughesovka's industrial prosperity, but war and revolution threaten that fragile stability. Families divided by class, nationality, and faith must confront upheaval that transforms the Russian Empire and their hopes for the future.

Six short stories bring together Welsh lives shaped by hardship, affection, seasonal celebrations, and unsettling encounters. The collection includes Poppies at the Well alongside stories set around Christmas, moving between everyday struggles and the possibility of ghostly returns.