1350, County Durham, England.
Newly widowed Margaret Surteys startles the village by taking over her husband’s brewery and seizing her only chance for independence. Someone wants to make sure she doesn’t succeed.
A winner in the 2025 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Unpublished Contest
The years following the Black Death were an age of uncertainty… and opportunity. Still, the village is shocked when Margaret Surteys takes on her dead husband’s brewery, despite her advanced age and opposition from the powerful Reeve. She also takes on her abandoned step-granddaughter, Agnes, who has plans of her own.
As the business grows, Margaret and Agnes battle official pressures, a string of mysterious mishaps at the brewery, and each other. Suspecting organized sabotage, possibly linked to more than one death, they hatch a scheme to catch the culprit. It ends in disaster. Now Margaret must risk her livelihood and newfound autonomy to save the child she has come to love.
Release date: April 27, 2026 From The Wild Rose Press
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Susan B Nolen 