Meg Hutchinson Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Meg Hutchinson was a sagas fiction novelist who also penned novels as Margaret Astbury.

She was just fifteen when she quit school and she never went back to school until she was in her mid-thirties. Aged thirty-three, she enrolled at a Teacher Training college and spent much of her evenings studying for her degree.
As for how she started writing, she has said that writing compositions and telling stories have always been part of her life since she was little. She used to engage in her passion while living in a tiny little Shropshire cottage.
She published “Abel’s Daughter” her debut novel in 1996 and by the time of her death in 2010, she had more than thirty titles to her name.

Many of her novels with their Black Country setting have gone on to become number-one bestsellers in the Sunday Times.

She would become the undisputed queen of sagas fiction, as her meticulous research and passion for history offered an interesting context to her action-packed stories.

For more than sixty years, she lived in Wednesday where her progenitors spent most of their lives. “A Penny Dip,” which was her autobiography was published in 2005.

“A Promise Given” by Meg Hutchinson is a work written in the great tradition of Catherine Cookson and Josephine Cox.

The lead in the novel is Rachel Cade, who is shocked when her stepmother accuses her of killing her little brother.

But she is even more stunned when she finds herself at the mercy of Magistrate Bedworth, one of the most evil magistrates in the village who sends her to await trial at the workhouse.
There she loses all hope and is almost falling into despair when Jared Lytton a handsome landowner comes to her rescue.

Even though she has been vindicated, She has to leave the village and endure a tough life, struggling to survive as her enemies always seem to catch up to her.
Things only get better when she meets Beulah Thomas the widow, and William her son. She is treated with a lot of kindness working on their farm and when William proposes, she says yes more out of a feeling of gratitude rather than love.
However, Rachel has never forgotten Jared Lytton and they may just cross paths.

The best thing about the novel is that it is never predictable and you will always be caught out by an unexpected plot twist that comes without warning.
It all makes for an intense and emotional rollercoaster ride with a roster of characters you will love.

Meg Hutchinson’s novel “A Love Forbidden” tells the story of Leah Bryce.

She was robbed of marriage to the love of her life but she still rears Miriam her ex-fiance’s daughter who she tells people is hers.

However, her desire for vengeance and her bitterness lead her to treat Miriam with extreme cruelty. When the latter falls pregnant, she will not let her marry the father of her kid.
Ralph who is Leah’s son has always loved Miriam and fought to subdue his feelings as he believed that she was his sister.

When he learns that the father of her child has abandoned her he decides to exact a terrible revenge. He is going to make sure that Saul Marsh will not do that to any other woman.
However, his sister’s trials are far from over even as Leah becomes more evil and hateful and will do anything to ruin Miriam, even from her deathbed.

It is only when Leah’s evil influence is completely gone will Miriam be able to put the demons from the past behind her and finally be able to find joy and love.
It is an incredible and un-putdownable novel with an intriguing plot, larger-than-life, and strong characters that are very relatable.

“Abel’s Daughter” by Meg Hutchinson is a riveting work of fiction that tells the story of Phoebe Pardoe.

She is a woman who has been wronged but is determined to rise above it all to grasp happiness and love at last. Stunned when she is wrongfully imprisoned, she finds life in prison to be harder than anything she could have ever imagined.
Beaten and abused, she struggles to keep going but never suspects that her travails are the work of Annie her jealous aunt. Thankfully, Sir William Dartmouth becomes her guardian angel and works hard until he gets her out.
But she has been disinherited in cruel fashion and now Phoebe had to try to make a living in a very tough world. Moreover, this can only get harder since her aunt is still on a perverse quest for vengeance.

It is an interesting work that comes with all manner of turns and twists as Phoebe deals with tribulations and trials trying to survive.