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19684986
Looking for Love Joanna Toye
Looking for Love follows the fortunes of Dan and Doris Archer’s children and grandchildren as they search for fulfilment in the changing world of the Seventies and early Eighties. Jennifer, struggling as an unmarried mother, thinks that marriage to the handsome Roger will he the answer to all her prayers. It isn’t, but Jennifer gets another chance. Lilian tragically loses her first husband, Nick, after only a few months of marriage. Recovering, she finds happiness with local squire Ralph Bellamy, only to find that his health is failing. Tony’s ill-matched engagement to Mary is broken off just in time for him to meet and marry Pat who, as well as helping to run the farm, manages to cope with their three children - and Tony himself! Christine has spent years trying to save her marriage. But when her husband Paul’s latest business venture hits trouble and he flees to Germany, she realises that she’s finally had enough. Shula’s choice of boyfriend often left her parents in despair. Even when she meets the eminently suitable Mark Hebden, it is years before she finally realises he is the only man for her. The course of true love is not set to run smoothly for the next generation of the Archers. Looking for Love, the second volume in this trilogy of novels published to celebrate the forthcoming fiftieth anniversary of The Archers, continues the story of BBC Radio 4’s most famous farming family.
THE A M B R I D G E
CHRONICLES
THE A M B R I D G E C H R O N I C L E S PART TWO
Looki ng for Love
J OA N N A TOYE
For Mary Cutler, with love, to mark her twenty years on the writing team.
This book is published to accompany the BBC Radio 4 serial entitled The Archers. The Editor of The Archers is Vanessa Whitburn. Published by BBC Worldwide Ltd, Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London W12 OTT First published 1999 Copyright ©JoannaToye 1999 The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. N o part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without the permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. ISBN 0 563 55125 9 Commissioning Editor: Anna Ottewill Project Editor: Lara Speicher Designed byTim Higgins Text set in Adobe Plantin and New Caledonia Semi Bold Italic by Keystroke, Jacaranda Lodge, Wolverhampton Printed and bound in Great Britain by Butler &Tanner Ltd, Frome and London Jacket printed by Lawrence-Alien Ltd, Weston-super-Mare
Contents
Acknowledgements
7
The Archers Family Tree
8
Prologue 1967: Lost and Found 11 1
Sisterly Love
21
2
The N ext Generation
35
3
M aking Room
53
4
Ring in the New
65
5
Rites of Passage
83
6
The Boy Wonder
93
7
Working It Out
105
8
Choices
117
9
Comings and Goings
129
10 M ixed Feelings
143
Taken by Surprise
159
12 A Learning Curve
171
13 Discoveries
185
14 Endurance
199
15 Starting Afresh
209
Temptation
219
11
16
17 Losses and Gains
231
Contents 18 Inevitabilities
247
19 Liberation
259
2 0 A Parting of the Ways
273
21
Fighting Back
291
22
The End of an Era
301
Acknowledgements
As ever, thanks are due to many people without whom I could not have begun to contemplate writing this book. On the production team of The Archers, the Editor, Vanessa Whitburn, has