So Long At the Fair — Frances Paige

1853, and into the happy and affluent Winter family comes handsome and mysterious Conway Graham.Conway is in love with Mia, the eldest daughter of Joseph and Marie-Helene Winter. She reciprocates his love, but recognises in his unhappy sister, Sarah, a woman who regards her as an interloper.Mia and Conway are married, but her suspicions are confirmed when Conway cuts short their honeymoon in Paris after being summoned home by his sister.Sadness and mischief combine to drive them apart, and Mia leaves Conway for Brian Moore, a Hussar whom she meets on the eve of his departure for the Crimean War. Conway refuses to lose her, but Mia has to unlock the dark secret behind Sarah's malevolence and uncover the truth of her husband's close connection with his sister.This is a powerful novel set in the heart of the great pottery region of England, where Joseph is regarded as a master in the art. So Long At The Fair evokes the tragedy and suffering of the Crimean War, and is a complex portrait of family relationships evolves at a time of great social change both at home and abroad, while the author with her customary skill interweaves a bittersweet love story two people driven apart by malice and misunderstanding.