Taken at the Flood
is set in 1946.
1 Plot summary
In a flashback from late Spring to early Spring, Lynn
Marchmont, newly demobilised from the Women's Royal
Naval Service, finds difficulty settling into the village life
of Warmsley Vale. She is engaged to Rowley, one of several
members of the Cloade family living nearby. Each of
them grew dependent on money from Gordon Cloade, a
bachelor who was expected to die and leave his fortune
to them. But instead he marries an Irishwoman, Rosaleen
Turner, invalidating his previous will, before being
killed in an explosion at his home, which his new
wife survives. As a result, Rosaleen inherits Gordon's
fortune and the entire family now faces financial crisis,
augmented by the poor state of the economy in the aftermath
of World War II. Rosaleen's fortune is zealously
guarded by her brother, David Hunter, and although various
family members manage to wheedle small sums out
of Rosaleen, David refuses to help Frances Cloade, whose
annaabi.ee 
