Award winning author Tricia McGill was born in London, England, and moved to Australia many years ago, settling near
Me
lbourne. Horses and dogs feature largely in her books. She’s had a succession of dogs in her lifetime and a few horses along the way.
The youngest in a large, loving family she was never lonely or alone. Surrounded by avid readers, who encouraged her to read from an early age, is it any wonder she became a writer? The local library was a treasure trove and magical world of discovery through her childhood and growing years. Tricia is a dreamerwho still dreams every night; snippets from those dreams have translated into ideas for her books.
Although her published works cross sub-genres, romance is always at their heart. Tricia finds the research entailed in writing historicals and her other great passion, time-travels, fascinating.
To Buy any of Tricia's books just click the book covers
Click this link to purchase A Troubled Heart
Unsure of his real past or name, Finn O’Connor thinks he was born in Ireland and taken from his mother as a baby by a gypsy woman. As a toddler, an English woman then took him to London. About ten he fled to join a gang of boys who survived by their wits on the streets. Five years later, he was arrested for a minor crime and transported to The Colony of New South Wales for a 10-year term. In 1846 as transporting of criminals neared an end in NSW, he was moved to the infamous penitentiary at Port Arthur in Van Diemen’s Land.
On the day Finn received his papers of freedom an accidental meeting brought him into contact with 20-year-old Esther Blythe. Born in Surrey, England, genteel Esther is kind and caring. As a 4-year-old her parents brought her to Van Diemen’s Land where her Papa, a doctor, took on the task of providing medical aid to the prisoners at the Port Arthur penitentiary and its surrounding area. Sadly, both parents were killed in an accident, leaving Esther with no option but to work as a governess/nursemaid.
For reasons that even she did not comprehend, Esther took ex-convict Finn under her wing when they met outside the penitentiary hospital. Could be she saw a fellow lonely soul who simply wanted someone to have faith in him. Life seems to take a turn for perhaps the better from then on, but will these two lonely people overcome many obstacles to find the happiness they seek together as they face an uncertain future.
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At almost seventeen Faith Boswell knows little about the world beyond the lodging house in Ballarat owned by her widowed mother. The mining town of Ballarat in 1860 is populated by those seeking to get rich by finding gold, so their residents are mostly miners on their way to the diggings with high hopes of finding this highly treasured substance. Sadly, Faith’s Ma is not the easiest person to get along with and Faith often wonders just why her mother is so bitter.
Things start to change unexpectedly one day when a stranger appears at the door of their home—a gentleman who mysteriously seems to know a lot about Faith’s Ma, her past life, plus Faith herself. Faith fears that her mother has been lying to her all her life. From that day Faith’s life takes a turn, perhaps for the better. One long-term lodger is a widow who unexpectedly presents Faith with an unusual birthday gift. This gift causes uproar which plays a large part in Faith’s life from them onwards.
Because Faith knows little about life outside of her sheltered existence, she is unable to fathom if handsome Walter Finch, son of the nearby store owners, has real feelings for her or is simply being kind. Faith is soon to find out just how willing he is to help her as she sets out on a new and scary phase in her life.
First love can be wonderful—albeit at times tortuous. Rarely does it last, and at times is so painful it brings nothing but heartache. Often it is the girl who has a passion, but in the case of twenty-year-old Tony, his feelings for seventeen-year-old Melody become what can probably be termed an obsession. An obsession that stays with him as years pass and their lives go in different directions.
Sadly, often a third party steps into the mix, diverting the course of the lives of young lovers. In Melody’s case, it is her father who shatters the hopes and dreams of this pair. Not only is Melody’s parent an overbearing and obstinate man but he happens to be an unprincipled police inspector who does not hesitate to use the power his position entitles him to exercise.
Shattered by the events that ensue, Tony takes off to the other side of the world and makes a successful life in Australia. Always the dream of returning to England and claiming his lost love stays with him. Many obstacles crop up, making his dreams seem impossible. Meanwhile Melody is left to face a loveless life forced on her by her father, where escape to happiness drifts further away as the years pass.
From one crazy period in history to another.
Whisked by some unseen force from the Covid-19 ridden world of 2020 in Australia, to an equally horrific time in the past, carer Chloe Simpson finds herself in North London during the Blitz of 1940. Could be that Chloe became too immersed in the stories related to her by Minnie, a woman in the Australian nursing home where she cares for elderly people. Stories about the dreadful days and nights endured during the Blitz.
Engrossed in the stories surrounding photographs in 98-year-old Minnie Clacton’s cherished album, back in time Chloe meets up with the young Minnie plus her own Great Great Grandmother Aggie.
In the midst of an air raid, Chloe is discovered, wet and confused, by a man and his dog. A man and his canine companion who coincidentally appeared prominently in the photo album alongside the young Minnie and Aggie. Did Chloe simply answer the call of Destiny?
Review Snippets:
Tricia McGill has a definite hit with “When Destiny Calls”! She has woven a treasure trove of history into an intriguing story of a woman in London during WWII. Everything from the nightly bombing raids and rationing to the tidbits about cinemas, clothes and lack of indoor plumbing will have you feeling like you live right next door to the McGraces. There’s just one problem. Chloe lives in 2020 in Australia yet because of an accident, finds herself struggling to adjust to life in 1940’s London. It’s a history; a love story; a family saga with past and present so carefully entwined you can’t predict the ending.
Any book that keeps me up half the night is a hit! Especially when the remainder of the night has me dreaming about the characters and wondering what will happen next.
Review by Barbara Baldwin--author of Spinning Through Time
Settlers Book 4
In book 4 of the Settlers Series, we catch up with most members of the extended family from the previous three books. Annie at 18 is the eldest Carstairs girl. She has lived out at Bathurst west of the Blue Mountains, where she was born just after her Mama, Bella and Papa, Tiger settled there back in 1824. After visiting her brother Tim and his wife Jo just before Christmas 1843, Annie decides to stay in Port Philip, seeking adventure much as her brother did when he set out with Jo the previous year. Annie has inherited her mother’s independent streak, a character trait that sometimes leads her to make the wrong choices.
Jacob O’Quinn works for her brother, and the likeable young carpenter catches Annie’s eye. Jacob is quiet and reserved in his manner, having spent his life with his widowed mother. When handsome Zachary McDowell, the complete opposite to steady Jacob comes along, he sweeps Annie off her feet. Heedless of advice given by others, Annie makes a choice that turns out to be the worst she could ever make.
Restless, Annie decides to return to her home, and Jacob makes the decision to escort her. The journey back across the mountains proves to be a lot more eventful than she assumed it could ever be. The road itself may have seen improvements through the years but there will always be unexpected incidents to turn life around on its axis. A suspected murder brings the might of the law down on the shoulders of the young couple.
Settlers Book 3
By 1840 the colony of New South Wales was expanding. Transportation of convicts to the east coast ended, and many free squatters set out to settle on lands to the south. In 1836, the Government in London authorised Governor Bourke to establish a settlement in The Port Philip District of New South Wales, and an Association was formed to make the district a separate colony.
Timothy, Tiger and Bella Carstairs eldest son has turned 21. Bored with his Government job and intent on seeking adventure and a new life away from Sydney, Tim decides to journey south in an endeavour to find this adventure, accompanied by his Uncle Carlos. Where else to find it, but in a newly formed settlement.
In the 1840s the road south might not be as hazardous as the one across the mountains travelled by his parents when he was a child, but the month long journey overland holds many dangers and challenges to be faced. Escaped and ex-convicts seek the easy life by forming gangs to take what they can where they can. Forced to fight off the intruders who take claim to the land they have cared for over many, many generations, the Indigenous people are faced with many trials and battles of their own.
Not the least of Tim’s personal challenges is a young headstrong woman who, uninvited, takes it upon herself to join him on his travels. When they reach their destination, their troubles have only just begun.
Even in the prospering colony of New South Wales, it would be far-fetched to think a convicted man could consider marrying the daughter of a wealthy property owner.
But Remy has larger problems to contend with than Sara’s bigoted father. Forced to leave the woman he loves behind, Remy faces overwhelming odds and an ordeal that threatens to strip him of everything; his pride, his strength, his health—even his life.
Sara has many struggles of her own and when Remy finally thinks he has a future with Sara within his grasp, he is sent to a place where pain and suffering are everyday occurrences. Will the lovers ever find true happiness?
"There, that's my grant." Pride filled Tiger's voice when they stopped at the boundary of his land. Studying the map once again, he nodded, breathing in deeply as he looked about him. "Have you ever seen such fertile pasture?"
Lush meadows stretched before them, a fresh and verdant carpet. Along the horizon behind them the mountains shimmered in their haze of blue. Isabella found it hard to believe they'd crossed their mighty heights. If not for this proud and stubborn man it would have been impossible.
Tiger dismounted, reverently patting the smooth silvery trunk of a ghostly eucalyptus tree. He bent to run his fingers through the grass, seeming to savor its feel as if praising the Lord for the good fortune that brought him here.
"We'll build up yonder, away from the river flats," he declared, grinning up at her as he gestured to a plateau on a gently rising slope. "Then we need not fear that the river will flood us when it runs high. Right, we'll make camp there." He pointed to a rise. "It's not too far from the river to make hard work of carrying water. I'll dig you a well, Bella, as soon as we get settled."
In the 1930s medicine was still very much a hit and miss affair. The surgeons were still experimenting and learning about the human body. This at a period when there was little in the way of pain relief.
This is one woman’s story about a childhood ruined by such surgeons, whose bad judgement confined an eight year old subsequently to bed for three years, and left her with a disability to last a lifetime. Nowadays she would have been given bed rest and pain relief, and in no time would have been up and running again.
Her strong will, and the love of a close family, saw her through the bad times, enabling her to go on and become the talented, remarkable person she was. I know because this woman was my sister.
It is 850AD and Norse warrior Rolf lands on the shores of East Anglia determined to take revenge on a Celtic clan. Following a fierce battle, where the Celts are savagely killed, Rolf comes face to face with the daughter of the slain Celtic leader. So stunned by the beauty, along with the courage of Brigid, he is convinced that his Three Fates of Destiny brought them together. Resolved to make this woman his own, he spares the lives of the captured Celtic women and children and takes them back to his homeland across the ocean.
Strangely drawn to the Norseman who is so sure they are destined to be together, Brigid must fight against succumbing to the wishes of the man who killed her father. Nevertheless, to save her fellow Celtic captives from slavery or worse, Brigid must keep a bargain with the Norse leader—a bargain that will see her tied to him forever.
In present day Cornwall, naturally shy Rolf shares his secluded lighthouse with his wolfhound. An artist, he delights in the rugged scenery and ever-changing weather. While in the nearest bookshop one day, he meets a newcomer to town. Brigid’s unusual personality strikes a chord with him. Not only are both convinced they have met before, but their fascination for Viking and Celtic history forges an unusual bond between them. Outspoken and forthright, Brigid sets out to break down the barrier of reserve and caution Rolf has erected over the years. Is it simply whimsy or can lovers across centuries be reunited?
The p
laintive singing of a ghostly child in the night sets off a chain of events that lead to Laurel learning the dark secrets that dwell in her Great Aunt Maggie’s house in a Melbourne suburb. When Eli comes into Laurel’s life, instead of instantly uncovering the secrets that have been buried in this house for many years, their joint efforts lead them to discover even greater mysteries.
Eli’s past is tied up with the ghost of the child who haunts the house, and there are many hurdles to cross before he discovers just why he also sensed strange vibes in the old house as soon as he entered.
In their search for the answers to an extraordinary mystery they uncover a passionate love affair shared by the people dear to them or those who dwelt in the house at one time of another. Despite their shared psychic abilities can the couple also find such a love?
Love comes in many guises. Although Amy cares for Tony, and in the small country town where they live they are considered a couple, Amy still carries a torch for Tony’s older brother who spurned her adolescent avowals of love. When Andrew returns home, now a wealthy, prosperous man, Amy’s whole world is in turmoil. Because of his rejection in the past, how can she trust this man who proposes to settle down in the small town he walked away from years ago? Amy has no doubt that he will soon long to be back in the bustling world he has become accustomed to in the city, and is determined to keep her head and not let her heart divulge its secrets this time around.
Review Snippets:
“Tricia McGill writes a tender love story that will melt your heart and have you wanting to smack some sense into Amy… good reading, especially when you turn inward to look at yourself and your insecurities. Linda B at TRS
For too long Tessa has seen herself as plain and dowdy, just an ordinary suburban housewife. With her confidence eroded after being married to a bully who humiliated her at every opportunity, why wouldn’t she presume she was unattractive, and someone no man would find the least bit worth bothering with?
But now Tessa is a widow, and relishing her new state of independence. Her world is turned upside down by Jack Delaney, a man she spent hours fantasizing over when he worked for her husband. A man who gave her a deliciously secret outlet from her miserable marriage. When Jack enters her life again, professing he finds her attractive, why would she believe him? Especially as he is now wealthy, successful, still extremely handsome, and to add to that, years younger than her.
Reviews
“Tricia McGill weaves a story of emotions, of facing your fears and stepping out. Of not being afraid to love, and acceptance of who you are. This book is very thought-provoking, but most especially, it highlights the importance of knowing that we are all worthy of love – and love can beat all odds. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it. It’s truly a keeper for the library.” Angela Verdenius
“More mature characters and a second chance at love are the themes of this book. The age difference isn't the only obstacle Tessa and Jack will face: Tessa--who has only been widowed for four months--has two grown children. Not only will Tessa have to overcome her belief that no man could want her, she'll also have to deal with her son’s disapproval. Despite the issues they'll have to deal with, the chemistry between them heats up the pages, making this a sensual yet sweet story.” Jennifer Bishop Romance Reviews Today
“This is an unforgettable love story that I didn’t want to end and when it did, I wanted to start reading it again. Tessa is a wonderful heroine who has to regain her self-esteem and learn to love again. Jack is a man sure of what he wants and doesn’t mind using everything in his power to get it.” Reviewer: Hattie Boyd Word Museum
“Tessa was just beginning to realize the freedom she’d inherited upon her husband’s death. No more bullying. No more being a possession. Then Jack, 15 years younger than the 45-year-old Tessa, knocked on her door. He came talking business but having loved Tessa for 10 years. This is a fast-paced story of slow decisions after instant attraction. Many women dream of a man like Jack but never meet one, much less get to love and be loved by him.” Chas Ridley The Romance Studio
The Lord of Castlegrove Manor, heir to a vast fortune, is a studious History buff who loves reading about the years following the Roman occupation of Britain. Dissatisfied with running his extensive estate, a distraction from Bart’s boredom is his erotic dreams. No woman but his dream lover will ever offer him the satisfaction he craves.
During one of these dreams Bart wakes up miles from his comfortable existence and in the year 450AD. When he comes face to face with Haesal, he knows instantly this is the woman who has shared so many of his heated fantasies.
Most Celts have fled west to escape invaders from over the seas. Haesal and her brother have been captured by an evil barbarian and Bart comes to realise that his mission is to rescue them and return them safely to their home in Cornwall. Haesal’s belief in shapeshifters and the fairy folk helps her better understand the sudden appearance of this handsome stranger in her life who claims to have a deep knowledge of her. But can the love they find with each other survive through time and treachery
Review Snippets:
“This is a wonderfully complex tale about a man in another time. Ms. Mc Gill is at her best describing the settings and making us feel as if we’re in ancient times, with the good and the bad – the deep forest and roman villages, the clothes and food are all brought to life for the reader. The characters are real and their story captivates… Interwoven with treachery and violence, the magic of the Celts, shape shifters and the old songs and legends, this story will sweep you into another time - one that you won’t want to leave!”
Reviewed by Jennifer Macaire for Wordweaving and MidWest Book review
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