Iris Gower Books in Order

Catrin Owen grows up amid the poverty and smoke of a nineteenth-century Welsh copper town. Dreaming of a different future, she attracts two men from contrasting backgrounds, making marriage a choice that could shape her chances of escape.

Seranne falls in love with nobleman Fenn Cornwallis before becoming entangled with his brother Dervil. Taken from England to the Russian court and later returned to London, she struggles through captivity and scandal while longing for a lasting love.

Poor but determined Mali Llewelyn takes a laundry job and fights to improve her family's prospects in South Wales. Her ambition is complicated by love for Sterling Richardson, heir to a copper fortune threatened by the industry's decline.

Mary Jenkins rises from poverty to responsibility at a Swansea laundry and a market stall. After her fiance is imprisoned, two wealthy rival brothers pursue her, forcing her to defend her independence against conflicting offers of love and security.

Rhian Grey returns from Yorkshire to a South Wales community shaken by the Great War. Skilled in spinning and weaving, she must choose between the security of her former sweetheart and the ambitious mill owner she learned to love.

Rhian Gray leaves Sweyn's Eye to work in a Yorkshire woollen mill. This fourth installment in the saga follows her changing fortunes beyond Swansea, continuing the series's portrait of women navigating work and life at the century's beginning.

In wartime Swansea, three women are linked by their involvement with the wealthy, ruthless Eden Lamb. His sister Roggen and childhood friends Nia and Kristina face upheaval as war transforms their lives and exposes the power of his influence.

After her father dies, Hari Morgan takes responsibility for the family shoemaking business and her ailing mother. Friendship with wealthy Emily Grenfell opens unexpected doors, but their shared love for the same man threatens that fragile connection.

Married to an older fisherman after her father’s death, Emmeline Powell feels isolated among an unwelcoming community. Meeting Will Davies awakens new possibilities, but village feuds and tragedy threaten the different future she begins to imagine.

Fon Parks marries widowed farmer Jamie O’Conner, knowing he trusts her but does not return her love. When enemies threaten their farm, she resolves to defend their home and hopes their struggle might bring them closer.

Arian’s growing shoemaking business gains a powerful backer in Calvin Temple, but a failed French venture threatens their investment. Traveling to salvage it, she falls foul of the law and faces a choice between prison and an unwanted marriage.

Bridie inherits a fleet of merchant ships and believes marriage to fellow shipowner Paul Marchant will secure her future. Doubts about his affection and dealings lead her to enlist Ellie Hopkins in a risky effort to regain control.

Catherine O’Conner defies convention to become Boyo Hopkins’s mistress, making an enemy of his wealthy wife Bethan. Determined to retaliate, Bethan begins dismantling Catherine’s family farm and devising a trap for the woman her husband loves.

Newly married Llinos Savage faces disaster when her husband Joe is accused of murdering her father. His imprisonment and an unlikely friendship formed behind bars set off events that threaten their marriage and their lives.

Young Llinos Savage takes charge of the family pottery after her mother’s death, facing a powerful rival and her wounded father’s return. Competing attachments to two very different men further complicate her struggle to keep the business alive.

After her grandmother dies, Catherine must live at Langland Hall with two cousins she has never met. One welcomes her and one remains distant, while the harsh coast, family secrets and an approaching danger leave her uncertain whom to trust.

Widowed Queen Catherine de Valois wants to marry Owen Tudor, but powerful men seek to control her future. Surrounded by political ambition and competing marriage plans, she must use courage and wit to choose a life for herself.

Margaret Beaufort devotes her life to securing the English crown for her son Henry. Amid the Wars of the Roses, separation, successive marriages and political danger test her determination to fulfill the destiny foretold for her child.

Teenage Rosie falls in love with pottery manager Watt Bevan, who remains unaware of her feelings. His involvement in Llinos Mainwaring’s troubled marriage draws Rosie into a painful situation that threatens her hopes of being loved in return.

Wealthy pottery owner Llinos offers refuge to impoverished Shanni Price, but their friendship strains when both meet Dafydd Buchan. Amid unrest in South Wales, Shanni’s involvement with the Rebecca rioters creates new threats to the pottery and its household.

During a romantic weekend, Lowri's new fiance Jon disappears from their bedroom. Learning that he has a wife destroys her understanding of their relationship, while police suspicion and evidence of his double life place her in danger.

Kessie Danton travels to Norway to manage the Sonefjord Hotel and immediately clashes with the owner's son. Their mutual antagonism raises questions about the powerful attraction beneath it as she begins work in an unfamiliar setting.

Orphaned Katie Cullen falls for railway foreman Bull Beynon as construction transforms Swansea. His existing relationship with Rhiannon draws both women into deception, entangling their hopes for love and security in a web of damaging secrets.

Abandoned by her former lover and repeatedly dismissed from respectable work, Rhiannon struggles to escape destitution. Employment at the Paradise Park Hotel offers a chance to rebuild her life, though the love she still wants seems beyond reach.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Swansea's Palace Theatre offers its community glamour and excitement. This opening story follows the loves and ambitions of people connected with the venue, where personal aspirations meet the world of performance.

Young Charlotte Mortimer faces a marriage proposal shaped more by power, money and influence than affection. Expected to place her community's interests first, she must confront a future in which love appears secondary to the arrangement.

After her Swansea home is bombed, Meryl Jones is evacuated to Carmarthen and falls for Michael, who seems drawn to her sister. Helping him escape military police brings them together, but their wartime bond faces a difficult choice.