The Desert Crop // An Unsuitable Match — Catherine Cookson

Money is tight in the farming communities around Fellburn in the 1880s, so when Hector Stewart announces that he is to marry wealthy Moira Conelly, it is his son Daniel who guesses the real reason for the union.

However, Moira has not been entirely honest about her background or finances. She certainly expects to become wealthy, although that depends on the generosity of an aunt whose money she has been promised. But when her aunt dies some years later, to Moira's dismay she is not the one to benefit. The effects of this bombshell are felt throughout the Stewart family, now without the means by which the farm could have prospered. Daniel, deprived of an opportunity to better himself, can see no escape, until a family tragedy opens up the way for him to expand his horizons and find the love and happiness he thought unattainable...