Sisters of Gold Books in Order

The Sisters of Gold books are set in and around Birmingham's famous jewellery quarter in the early twentieth century, following two sisters and then the next generation as they try to forge their own futures in a world shaped by faith, class and war.

In Sisters of Gold, sisters Margaret and Annie are still grieving the loss of their mother when a scandal forces them out of their strict, devout father's home. Packed off under a cloud of secrecy, they arrive one stifling summer evening to stay with their uncle, goldsmith Ebenezer Watts, and his warm-hearted wife Hatt. Birmingham's jewellery quarter is noisy, cramped and full of opportunity, very different from the life they have known. Margaret is taken on as a chain maker in her uncle's workshop, close to the furnaces and the steady clink of metal, while Annie finds work in a cutlery factory where she quickly sees how harsh working conditions can be.

As the sisters settle, their paths diverge. Margaret spends long days in a small workshop alongside silversmith Philipp Tallis, the heat and concentration drawing them into a wary intimacy that could become something more. Annie, whose nature is softer and more open, is pulled toward the people around her, especially those trapped in poverty and hard labour. Both young women are hiding the truth about why they had to leave home, and the question of what really happened never quite leaves them, even as romance and new responsibilities grow.

The Silversmith's Daughter moves the story on to the next generation and into the years of the First World War. It centres on Daisy Tallis, Margaret and Philipp's determined daughter, who has grown up in the family business and longs to be recognised as a skilled silversmith in her own right. At twenty, Daisy is studying at the School of Jewellery and Silversmithing and is fiercely proud of her craft. When she meets James Carson, an old rival of her father's and a married man, she is both flattered and dangerously drawn to him, even as war begins to change everything around them.

As the men of the quarter join up, the workrooms empty and familiar rhythms are disrupted. Orders change, raw materials are redirected to the war effort and families face the daily wait for news from the front. Daisy and her mother Margaret must hold the business together in a city already marked by loss. Personal choices carry heavy weight: a misplaced trust, a risky love affair, a decision to put pride aside for the sake of survival. The books explore how fine the line can be between security and ruin when war and social pressure close in.

Together, the two novels build a portrait of Birmingham's jewellery quarter as both a workplace and a tight-knit neighbourhood. Workshops, chapels and back-to-back housing sit side by side, and the beauty of finished pieces contrasts with the noise and grit of their making. Readers who enjoy stories of craft, family and complicated loyalties will find a continuous thread running from Margaret and Annie's arrival in the city through to Daisy's struggle to shape her own life under the storm clouds of war.