New Releases by Angela Patrick

This story is fiction. If it should be even the thought of fact-forget it, ain''t nobody like this - maybe some folks a little- no it''s fiction - I hope!Mert came alive late one night and many nights I couldn''t sleep so well - I propped this on my tummy and started writing. Any one that knows about stories should have an outline and research so, I hear. Well, I''m a senior citizen - I''ve heard tell of things helping for some folks - and well!!But most of all it helps to have the humor that I have enjoyed with my sisters and friends Ellen and sisters Sue and Mary and most of all my folks Pat and Maggie who were very colorful characters - saw humor in so many things - I reckon the average person couldn''t see - sometimes it was dark.

The tragic but ultimately uplifting story of a young woman who was sent to a ''baby laundry'' for unmarried mothers in 1960s London In 1963, London was on the brink of becoming one of the world''s most vibrant cities. Angela Patrick was 19 years old, enjoying her first job working in the City, when her life turned upside down. A brief fling with a charismatic charmer left her pregnant, unmarried and facing a stark future. Being under 21, she was still under the governance of her parents, strict Catholics who insisted she have the baby in secret and then put it up for adoption. Shunned by her family and forced to leave her job, Angela was sent to an imposing-looking convent for unmarried mothers in north-east London. Run like a Victorian workhouse, conditions in the convent were decidedly Spartan. Vilified and degraded by the nuns for her ''wickedness'', her only comfort came from the other pregnant girls, all knowing they too would have to give up their babies. After a terrifying labour with no pain relief, Angela gave birth to a beautiful son, Paul, with whom she fell instantly in love. At eight weeks he was taken from her and forcibly put up for adoption, leaving Angela bereft and heartbroken. Not a day went by without Angela thinking about him. Then, thirty years later, she received a letter. It was from Paul, and a reunion was arranged. This vital slice of social history is a shocking reminder of how cultural mores have changed around the issue of single motherhood since the early 1960s. It is also an honest, heartfelt memoir that explores the closest of human bonds.

At 24, Renea Peaks is finishing college, searching for a career, and taking care of her 14-year-old brother Brian. It''s a tough juggling act made even more difficult when Brian is arrested as an accomplice to murder. Brian won''t talk to the police or Renea about what really happened, leaving her dependent upon A.J. Martin, the handsome court-appointed social worker. He''s the only person who can get through to Brian--and the only man who can capture Renea''s heart. With universal appeal, this debut heralds the arrival of talented new novelist.