To Hear a Nightingale - Softcover

Charlotte Bingham wrote her autobiography, Coronet Among the Weeds, at nineteen. Her novels and acclaimed bestsellers include: Summertime, The Season, The Blue Note, The Love Knot, The Kissing Garden, Love Song, The Business, In Sunshine or in Shadow, Stardust, Nanny, Change of Heart, which won the 1994 Romantic Novel of the Year Award, Debutantes, The Nightingale Sings, Grand Affair, The Chestnut Tree, The Wind Off the Sea and The Moon at Midnight, Daughters of Eden and The House of Flowers.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

The anguish inflicted on a child by a sadistic relative, and the excitement of high-stakes horse racing, are the main themes in this compelling novel by the British author of numerous TV plays (including Upstairs, Downstairs ). Raised by her diabolically cruel grandmother in New Hampshire during the 1940s, well-behaved orphan Cassie McGann endures beatings, insults and a generally miserable existence. A kindly neighbor's home provides occasional refuge, but the girl can evade Grandmother's malice only briefly; the spiteful old woman sends her to a snobbish private school in West Virginia, where spoiled, narcissistic Leonora Von Wagner becomes Cassie's new classmate and tormentor. Victimization fails to destroy Cassie's courage, however, and she finds fulfillment years later by marrying horse trainer Tyrone Rosse. At their sprawling farm in Ireland, the Rosses struggle to train winners in thoroughbred racing, while the indefatigable Leonora labors to thwart them. Effective ly conveying her characters' triumphs and heartbreaks, Bingham excels in her portrayal of Cassie's venomous grandmother and in stunning, climactic scenes at the Epsom Derby.
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