Leah Fleming Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Leah Fleming
Leah Fleming was born in Lancashire to Scottish parents, and is married with four grown up kids and four grandchildren.

She writes full time from the slopes of an olive grove in Crete and from her haunted farmhouse in the Yorkshire Dales.

Even when she was a child she would make a drama out of a crisis, however, Enid Blyton stories were her first page turners, particularly “The Secret Island”. She walked half way across Bolton so she could borrow a copy because she just couldn’t wait through the weekend to hear how it would end from their teacher’s serial reading.

The Enchanted Wood gave her many hours of pleasure where she made up her own lands at the very top of the Faraway Tree. Alice in Wonderland terrified her then and still does.

Leah came from a family where hymn books and the Bible were around all the time but there weren’t any bought books. Post war austerity took its toll on Leah’s childhood. The library was their second home and reading was for diversion and knowledge.

During school, Shakespeare’s plays caught her imagination. Thomas Hardy’s novels and John Donne’s poetry gripped her with tragic stories and sense of place.

While at Compulsory University reading was softened up by Anya Seton, Daphne du Maurier, Elizabeth Grudge, and Catherine Cookson. If there was anything racy and romantic, she would read it, particularly if the sense of place and time were strong.

Raising four kids, reading time wasn’t so easy to glean, although she did discover Wilfred Own and war poets like Margaret Drabble, Susan Hill, John Fowles, as well as Emily Dickinson’s poetry

She likes crime fiction, and the grittier the better. Her favorites are Val McDermid, Reginald Hill, Peter Robinson, and Stephen Booth. Favorite American authors include Anne Tyler and Barbara Kingsolver.

Leah graduated from Leeds University in the swinging sixties and taught in Adult literacy classes and primary schools.

When she moved to Yorkshire, she ran a catering business from a market stall. She trained as a therapist where she ran workshops in Stress management and worked for RELATE in a rural setting.

Leah’s debut album, called “The Girl From World’s End”, was released in the year 2007. Her work is from the historical, saga, and general fiction genres.

“The Girl From World’s End” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2007. Tragedy strikes and there is just a single place that she can go. Mirren Gilchrist, age eight is orphaned after a horrible accident, and is sent to live with estranged relatives deep in the Yorkshire Dales. She has a tough time fitting in, her town ways are a mystery to country kids.

One day, as she flees the school, as well as the cane, she takes some refuge from a fierce snowstorm in the ruins in stone cottage. Legend has it that World’s End is haunted, however Mirren’s finally found some place that she can call home and so her love affair with this magical place has started. This is the place that she falls in love with Jack, and the place that she secretly hopes is going to become their very own.

But then, World War II comes, throwing everything in turmoil. Jack returns from leave a changed man, uncaring and violent with a cruel streak in him. Mirren struggles to cope with this new Jack and new motherhood. Tragedy strikes and history looks set to repeat itself again. Could heartache be here to stay or could Mirren find some inspiration and solace in the one place that she has ever felt safe?

“The War Widows” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2008. Once you lose everything that you love, you need a friend.

Nothing ever happens in sleepy Grimbleton. Until a pair of strangers, both claim to be a dead soldier’s fiance, show up. Susan prides herself on her refined “English” manners, yet her graces and airs hide some harrowing memories of her escape from war-torn Burma. Ana pines for the sunshine of her Greek village but is still being haunted by the death of her sister at the hands of Nazis.

Su and Ana, who are enemies initially, quickly find themselves united in their grief at the loss of Freddie Winstanley, who is the dad of both their kids. Freddie’s sister takes both of them under her wing and quickly the circle of friends expands to include Maria, an Italian woman, torn between her invalid husband, and another guy, as well as uppercrust Diana, whose jolly exterior hides a secret sorrow.

Supported by this new sisterhood, Lily dares dream about spreading her wings away from her spineless fiance and domineering family. Each woman’s courage is quickly sorely tested. Could they help one another find happiness after the heartache of the war?

“Orphans of War” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2008. The ones that you leave behind are the ones that stay with you forever.

When Madeleine Belfield loses her entire family as well as her home in the Blitz, she gets sent to live with her relatives in the more safe Yorkshire Dales. While on board the steam train, she befriends Gloria Conley and her brother Sid, who were abandoned by her desperate mom.

Even though Gloria and Maddy are chalk and cheese, they quickly vow to be ‘forever friends’. Maddy slowly adjusts to Brooklyn Hall as well as her new family, particularly Aunt Plum. Plum, who is eager to help out with the war effort, opened up a home for ‘difficult’ evacuees and Gloria and Maddy are soon bound together in mischief and friendship with a motley crew. This includes flighty Enid and headstrong Greg.

The friendship endures right into adulthood, until one tragic experience rips them apart. Maddy, who is desperate to escape from her memories, flees and goes to London. Years go by, and chance reunites her with Greg and Gloria. However, one visit back to Yorkshire reveals the truth about the past, and it is a revelation with some unimaginable consequences.