Rebecca Bryn
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I live on a smallholding in West Wales with my husband and rescue dog. (Or should that be dog and rescue husband?) I love writing stories with twists and unexpected endings, because life is like that. I write stories with layers, stories within stories, about flawed, real characters who live. I draw on personal experience, using it to create emotional depth in situations I can, thankfully, only imagine. I love tackling challenging subjects, child-abduction and Nazi death-camps being but two: loss, love and relationships are major factors in my writing as they are in real life.
Like one of my characters, I'm an artist and I see writing and painting as very similar pastimes. Both require keen observation and a deep understanding of subject, seeing beyond the surface of places, people and situations and imparting a deeper meaning. Both media require drawing a picture that tells a story, be it in paint or text that the reader or viewer can add to with their own imagination and life experience. Books I love reading are those that take me to places I've never been, be it morally, physically, spiritually or emotionally, that teach me something about myself, inspire me and make me think. I hope the novels I write will do that for my readers. Download Rebecca Bryn's short story Ooh, Air Margrit |
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The Silence Of The Stones
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Mystery Thriller
Alana is a struggling artist and sculptor, a daughter of dysfunctional parents. She grabs the chance of a fresh start when she is left a cottage in West Wales by an aunt she didn't know existed. Both her parents beg her not to go but refuse to explain why. Plunged into a conspiracy of silence over a thirty-year-old crime, her presence causes dangerous ripples in the Pembrokeshire village she makes home. An eccentric old woman who casts runes and worships ancient gods, an ex-lover, a busker, a 2 year-old child and an investigative journalist make strange bedfellows but conspire to threaten everything Alana holds dear. Sample The Silence Of The Stones The Silence Of The Stones Reviews #1 The Silence Of The Stones Reviews #2 |
Touching The Wire
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WWII Thriller
GOLD MEDAL WINNER historical fiction - event/era Readers' Favorite Book Awards 2019. The 2019 Independent Author Network Fiction Book of the Year Part One: A young doctor and nurse meet in a death camp in war-torn Poland. They struggle against horrific odds to save lives and survive. As their relationship blossoms they join the camp resistance, risking death daily. Liberation throws the young man from one nightmare to another as he fights to save the life of the woman he loves. In 70s England, Walt, now an old man, lives with the guilt of surviving, and the burden of unbearable secrets and a promise unkept. It's this guilt that gives him nightmares and forces him to relive his past. Part Two: In present-day England, Walt's granddaughter, Charlotte, is leaving an abusive relationship. She finds an enigmatic carving, made by Walt, that leads her to the Imperial War Museum. Here, she meets Adam, a modern historian, who agrees to help her. Together, they find love and discover her grandfather's hidden secrets. It takes courage to reveal all to the world, so keeping Walt's promise. Sample Touching The Wire Touching the Wire Reviews Reader Review of Touching the Wire |
The Child of Prophecy
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Thriller
NB: THIS BOOK WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS 'WHERE HOPE DARES'. 'I don't know where to begin in praising this book - there is so much that is good about it... the story and the world Rebecca Bryn has created is utterly convincing.' Review - Frank Parker author of Strongbow's Wife. A prophecy, a sacrifice, and a truth that is more terrifying than the legend. The Child of Prohecy is set in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco at some time between the Great Flood and the Second Coming. Kiya is a village healer and her husband, Raphel, is a storyteller, keeping alive the oral traditions of their people. Life is peaceful, ordered, happy, and the most excitement they have is regular visits from Abe, an itinerent peddler who trades across the mountains with his mule, Moses. Abe, however, is not what he seems, and though he has Kiya and Raphel's best interests at heart, he has a secret agendum laid down by a long-dead pope that is sometimes at war with his love for his friends. He has dedicated his long life to watching over the village where Kiya lives, but why? What is it he's not telling her? All goes horribly wrong when a pagan, war-hungry cult from the northern side of the mountains descend with arson, rape, and slaughter on their minds, and an ancient prophecy to fulfil. Kiya is kidnapped and forced north over the mountains, but what has the prophecy to do with Kiya? Does Abe know? Alaric, one of the barbaric Northmen, sees Kiya as the legendary 'Gift' of prophecy he's been sent to find, and he rapes and kidnaps her and forces her north over the mountains, leaving Raphel for dead amid the burning ruins of his village. Raphel lives and determines to set off in search of Kiya, his only aids hope, love, and a headful of stories. Abe goes with him, but his reasons for this aren't quite what they seem, and he will find his allegiencies sorely tested. That the chase on foot across the mountains in winter will be hard and long is not in doubt, or that the sea voyage will be fraught with danger, or the trek across the desert under a burning sun less deadly than that of their ancestors who fled persecution from East Africa. That gentle Raphel will have to use every ounce of his knowledge, wit, compassion, forgiveness, and courage to rescue his wife, is certain, but who will prove to be his friend and who his foe, and what is this prophecy by which the Northmen set so much store? Why is it so important that they will kill and risk their own deaths to fulfil it - and can such an ancient prophecy be trusted? SAMPLE PDF |
On Different Shores (For Their Country's Good, Book One)
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Historical Fiction, Romance
A young poacher is charged with killing Lord Northampton's gamekeeper. Found guilty, he is transported to Van Diemen's Land, for life, leaving behind the wife he loves, pregnant and penniless. While he suffers disease and the deprivations of a brutal life in chains aboard a convict ship, she, too, determined for her child to know his father, is forced to embark on a dangerous strategy to follow him across the globe, whatever the cost. Will the cost prove too high, for her and those she loves? Found guilty of killing Lord Northampton's gamekeeper, a young poacher is transported to Van Diemen's Land, leaving behind the common-law wife he loves. Pregnant and penniless, she is left facing the appalling lack of rights for women in Victorian England. While he suffers disease and the deprivations of a brutal life in chains, she is determined her child will know its father, so embarks on a dangerous strategy to follow her lover across the globe. Will the cost prove too high, for her and all those she loves? (Inspired by family history and real events.) 
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Beneath Strange Stars (For Their Country's Good, Book Two)
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Historical Fiction, Romance
Continuing the story of Jem and Ella. Jem, a young poacher is transported to Van Diemen's Land, for life, for killing one of Lord Northampton's gamekeepers, leaving behind, Ella, the girl he loves. As Jem and his cousins plan a mutiny aboard the convict ship, HMS Tortoise, in an attempt to return home to his lover, Ella is using the only currency she has, her body, to earn the fare to follow him across the globe. The mutiny fails, and Jem faces a life in exile, but his determination to escape is not quelled. Will he escape and find his way home, or will he be forced to accept his fate and learn to love again? Can Ella raise the money to escape her loveless marriage, or will her new midsummer baby tie her to England forever? Is their love not meant to be? 
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On Common Ground (For Their Country's Good, Book Three)
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Historical Fiction, Romance
Concluding the tale of Jem and Ella's ill-fated love: both have been transported as convicts to Van Diemen's Land. Ella and Jem's baby son, William, is dying from malnutrition in the nursery of the female factory at Launceston, where she is imprisoned. In order to save his life, she has put herself forward for marriage, despite already having a legal husband, Harry, and a son, Matthew, in England. Her new 'husband' has gold fever and is taking her and William over Australia's Bue Mountains in search of his fortune. Harry, in England, doubts Matthew is his son, and, desperate for a legal, blood heir, determines to hear the truth of the matter from Ella's own lips and sets out to find her. Jem, meanwhile, still a prisoner in Impression Bay, on Van Diemen's Land's convict peninsula, believes Ella and William are in England. Letters from home suggest she's with Harry, and is happy, but can Jem believe that after what Harry has put her through in the past? Unable to rest until he knows she's safe and happy, Jem determines on a further escape attempt to reach England and Ella. Will their paths ever cross again, or is their love not meant to be? 
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For Their Country's Good Box Set: On Different Shores, Beneath Strange Stars, and
On Common Ground
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Historical Fiction, Romance
One illicit kiss changes Ella's life forever. One moment of madness changes Jem's. Jem, a young poacher is convicted of murdering one of Lord Northampton's gamekeepers and is exiled to Van Diemen's Land with his two cousins for life leaving behind Ella, his common-law wife. Ella, desperate to escape an abusive arranged marriage and determined her and Jem's unborn child will know its father, will do anything to follow the man she loves. Their ill-fated attempts to be together take them across the globe in convict ships to help found a new colony in Van Diemen's Land, across the Blue Mountains of Australia after gold, and force both to make heartbreaking decisions. A tale of sacrifice, courage, hope, and unbreakable love. 'Truly exceptional.' 
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The Dandelion Clock - A wish to end all wishes, the war to end all wars
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Historical Fiction, Romance
Bill, a farm boy brought up in a village on the Duke of Buccleuch’s Northamptonshire estate, is plucking up his courage to ask his sweetheart, Florrie, to marry him. Florrie has given up her dream of being a dancer to bring up her siblings and protect them from their violent, sexually abusive widowed father. For her, marriage to Bill is love, escape, and protection: a dream to be clung to. When war breaks out in August 1914, Bill and Florrie’s dreams are dashed – Bill is sent with the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars, a yeomanry cavalry regiment, to fight in Gallipoli, Egypt, and Palestine taking with him a horse, Copper, volunteered for service by the 7th duke’s young daughter, Lady Alice. Bill makes promises before he leaves: to marry Florrie if he survives and to bring his beloved warhorse, Copper, home safe to Lady Alice. While Bill fights Turks and Germans in appalling conditions, Florrie fights her own war with rationing, poverty, the loss of her menfolk, and her father’s drunken temper. As the war proceeds, fearful and with her resilience faltering, her feelings of self-worth plummet, and she turns to her dandelion clocks for reassurance. ‘He lives? He lives not? He loves me? He loves me not?’ When Bill returns to England six months after the armistice in 1918, both he and Florrie have been changed by their personal journeys. Has their love survived five years apart and the tragedies they’ve endured? Can Bill keep his promises to Florrie and Lady Alice? A heartbreaking story of lovers torn apart by the Great War. An insight into the military history of the 1914-1918 war in Egypt as fought by the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars and the Queen's Own Worcestershire Yeomanry - some of the 'PALS brigades'. At first thought, 'not real soldiers' by the regular army, the Royal Bucks and the Worcester Yeomanry fought with great courage and suffered huge losses. In fact, the Worcesters sustained more losses than any brigade in any war, and the PALS earnt the respect of all those who fought. Although Military Fiction 1914-1918, it is a story inspired by real people and based on real events that doesn't forget the role of women in the Great War or their need for a WW1 romance. |
Kindred and Affinity - When the man you love marries the sister you hate
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Historical Fiction, Romance
In Victorian England, estranged sisters, Annie and Mary Ellen Underwood, fight for the love of one man, Edwin West. Their rivalry ignites passions, jealousies, family feuds, and deep hatreds already sparked by religious intolerance. Edwin loves them both, but both are forbidden fruit. Who will be the winners in this three-sided game, and what will be the price of a second chance at love for the losers? For lovers of Catherine Cookson. 
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The Chainmakers' Daughter: The White Slaves of England (The Chainmakers - Book One)
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Historical Fiction
England 1901 - 1910 Rosie Wallace lives in the Black Country and is the eldest daughter of chainmakers, learning her trade at her mother’s side. Pay for women is poor, and all the future holds for Rosie is working ten or twelve hours a day, hoping to marry Jack, the boy she loves, when she reaches fifteen and probably having more children than they can feed. Even working these long hours, starvation wages keep the chainmakers in abject poverty, while the chain masters reap the profit. Rosie wants better for her family. Hearing that in London, agitator and socialist, Mary Macarthur, is lobbying parliament to end sweated labour, Rosie writes to her, begging her help in their desperate plight, but can one person unite the women chainmakers of Hawley Heath to strike for a living wage and defeat their rich and powerful chain master, who refuses to pay the legal wage? Will Rosie’s disastrous assignation with the chain master’s son lose her Jack’s love and throw a deadly spanner in the works? Can the white slaves of England defeat the chain master or will Rosie end her life on the gallows? A Victorian/Edwardian political social drama, The Chainmakers' Daughter exposes the living conditions of working-class women and girls in the early 1900s. Mary Macarthur, a socialist and the first woman to stand for parliament, founded the Anti-Sweating League, the National Federation of Women Workers, and was instrumental in getting the 1910 Wage Board Act and a legal minimum wage into law. It was a fight that took many years and culminated in the women chainmakers' strike of 1910, a strike that lasted two months. A family saga, this is the story of the fight of ordinary working women for a fair day's pay for a fair day's work that paved the pay for a national minimum wage and equality for women. 
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The Chainmaker's Wife: The Fight for Women's Suffrage (The Chainmakers - Book Two)
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Historical Fiction
England 1911: following the successful strike by women chainmakers for the legal minimum wage, and the death of the chain master, Matthew Joshua, Jack and Rosie find themselves on the other side of the fence when they are thrust into running the chain factory for Matthew's widow, Marion. Along with their new responsibilities, Jack and Rosie have to contend with national strikes, riots, and shortages. Ever the activist, Rosie defies Jack and is gaoled when fighting for women's suffrage, while Marion plots to write Jack out of Rosie's life and steal Rosie’s daughter Emma. Jack's attempt to keep Rosie safe at home by betraying her trust in the most underhand way backfires spectacularly. Can they find forgiveness, yet again? The outbreak of war brings new challenges to an already fraught relationship, and both determine to do their bit for the war effort with potentially devastating consequences. England 1911: following the successful strike by women chainmakers for the legal minimum wage, and the death of the chain master, Matthew Joshua, Jack and Rosie find themselves on the other side of the fence when they are thrust into running the chain factory for Matthew's widow, Marion.
Along with their new responsibilities, Jack and Rosie have to contend with national strikes, riots, and shortages. Ever the activist, Rosie defies Jack and is gaoled when fighting for women's suffrage, while Marion plots to write Jack out of Rosie's life and steal Rosie’s daughter Emma. Jack's attempt to keep Rosie safe at home by betraying her trust in the most underhand way backfires spectacularly. Can they find forgiveness, yet again? The outbreak of war brings new challenges to an already fraught relationship, and both determine to do their bit for the war effort with potentially devastating consequences. 
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The Chain Mistress: Breaking the Chains (The Chainmakers - Book Three)
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Historical Fiction
Raised by strong women who fought for the national minimum wage and votes for women in the early 1900s, Emma is looking for a cause. The depression that followed WW1 sees her joining hunger marches to London, but it's discovering she has a Jewish cousin, Hanne, in Germany, that turns her life upside-down. As Nazi storm clouds gather over Europe, Emma determines to get Hanne and her family to safety in England, or at least, get Hanne's little son, Asher, out on a Kindertransport. She doesn't reckon on the depth of Hitler's tyranny or countries closing their borders to refugees. 
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The Chainmakers Box Set: The Chainmakers' Daughter, The Chainmaker's Wife, and
The Chain Mistress
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Historical Fiction
The Chainmakers' Daughter - “Some make chains. Some wear them.” Rosie Wallace survives on three slices of bread a day. Scarred by flame and metal, she makes her life as her ancestors have: making chains for the rich chain master, Matthew Joshua. There is no hope for a better future. No hope even for a green vegetable on the table. Her life will be making chains, marrying Jack, the boy she loves, and babies every year. But when an assault by the chain master’s son threatens the very fabric of her tenuous existence, Rosie finds the courage and the reason to fight for her own survival and the lives of her family and neighbours. Set in the first decade of the 20th century The Chainmakers’ Daughter is a haunting portrayal of abject poverty, ever-present death, and modern-day slavery. The Chainmakers' Daughter is set in England, the Black Country from 1901 - 1910. Rosie is the eldest daughter of chainmakers, learning her trade at her mother’s side. Pay for women is poor, and despite working ten or twelve hours a day, starvation wages keep the chainmakers in abject poverty, while the chain masters reap the profit. Hearing that in London, agitator and socialist, Mary Macarthur, is lobbying parliament to end sweated labour, Rosie writes to her, begging her help in their desperate plight, but can one person unite the women chainmakers of Hawley Heath to strike for a living wage and defeat their rich and powerful chain master, who 's Wife - refuses to pay the legal wage? Can the white slaves of England defeat the chain master, or will Rosie's ill-considered liaison with the chain master's son lose her the man she loves and possibly end her life on the gallows? A Victorian/Edwardian political social drama, The Chainmakers' Daughter exposes the living conditions of working-class women and girl's in the early 1900s. Mary Macarthur, a socialist and the first woman to stand for parliament, founded the Anti-Sweating League, the National Federation of Women Workers, and was instrumental in getting the 1910 Wage Board Act and a legal minimum wage into law. It was a fight that took many years and culminated in the women chainmakers' strike of 1910, a strike that lasted two months. A family saga, this is the story of the fight of ordinary working women for a fair day's pay for a fair day's work that paved the pay for a national minimum wage and equality for women. The Chainmaker's Wife - England 1911: following the successful strike by women chainmakers for the legal minimum wage, and the death of the chain master, Matthew Joshua, Jack and Rosie find themselves on the other side of the fence when they are thrust into running the chain factory for Matthew's widow, Marion. Along with their new responsibilities, Jack and Rosie have to contend with national strikes, riots, and shortages. Ever the activist, Rosie defies Jack and is gaoled when fighting for women's suffrage, while Marion plots to write Jack out of Rosie's life and steal Rosie’s daughter Emma. Jack's attempt to keep Rosie safe at home by betraying her trust in the most underhand way backfires spectacularly. Can they find forgiveness, yet again? The outbreak of war brings new challenges to an already fraught relationship, and both determine to do their bit for the war effort with potentially devastating consequences. The Chain Mistress - Raised by strong women who fought for the national minimum wage and votes for women in the early 1900s, Emma is looking for a cause. The depression that followed WW1 sees her joining hunger marches to London, but it's discovering she has a Jewish cousin, Hanne, in Germany, that turns her life upside-down. As Nazi storm clouds gather over Europe, Emma determines to get Hanne and her family to safety in England, or at least, get Hanne's little son, Asher, out on a Kindertransport. She doesn't reckon on the depth of Hitler's tyranny or countries closing their borders to refugees. 
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REVENGE - England and Scotland, rivalry and retribution
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Historical Fiction
The most heinous act of treachery in Scottish history and piracy on the high seas bind the lives of strangers, Tom and Andrew, inextricably together. Tom is a young Englishman trying to prove himself worthy of the girl he loves. Andrew, a Scot, hopes to build a better life for his family in New Caledonia, a Scottish trading post on the Darien Isthmus. Driven to revenge, because of England’s stranglehold on the trade routes, the merchants of Scotland bring England and Scotland to the brink of war. Tom and Andrew are on opposing sides when they are thrust together by a chance meeting. Will one of them have to die before England and Scotland can unite in peace? An action-packed adventure with courtroom drama, suspense, a love interest, and a surprise ending. 
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Break It Down: The Luddite Rebellion (Wales Rising - Prequel)
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Historical Fiction
Prequel to the Wales Rising series. Evan and his parents endure the dangers of work in a slate quarry in Wales, while Elen’s family ekes out a meagre living spinning and cloth finishing in rural Yorkshire. When their lives and livelihoods are threatened, desperation forces them to seek work in northern England’s new industrial heartland. Will their hopes of a better life turn into a nightmare? Machines take the place of skilled men, and in the woollen mills of Wakefield, Evan and Elen are cruelly exploited as cheap child labour. War with France, recession, mass unemployment, and poor harvests bring the north of England to the brink of starvation. As Evan and Elen’s love deepens, the textile workers’ only option is to rebel against the harsh mill owners and an uncaring government or starve. Rebellion led by ‘General Ludd’ grows stronger and more violent as they break the machines and attack the mills that are taking their jobs. Will their actions lead to salvation or a tragic end? 
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Give Us This Day: The Merthyr Rising (Wales Rising - Book One)
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Historical Fiction
Merthyr Tydfil, Reverend Evan Rees’s ministry in the South Wales coalfields, is dubbed “a den of iniquity and ungodliness. A hotbed of vice, disease, and violence." In debt and starving as the 1830s depression bites, desperate workers march through the streets in protest against wage cuts as bailiffs drag beds from beneath dying women. While Evan attempts to bring his flock to God and save their souls, his wife Elen is ministering to the needs of the women of the town, and his rebellious daughter, Gwenllian, is keeping forbidden assignations with the boy she loves, local ruffian Sam. As the workers’ protests explode into a full-scale riot, the red flag is raised over Merthyr, and Evan attempts to broker a peace between workers and ironmasters before the militia is called and there’s a massacre. Can Evan hold his family and community together and keep them safe while battling his own crisis of faith? 
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Let Us Pass: The Rebecca Riots (Wales Rising - Book Two)
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Historical Fiction
Book Two: Let Us Pass, the Rebecca Riots - a fight against greed and inequity! A fight for justice. A fight for freedom. Gwen and Sam, separated in the aftermath of the Merthyr rising, are reunited in 1839 after more than seven years apart, but when Evan's ministry moves to rural Carmarthenshire, they are thrown into a world of poverty and escalating protests. When the desperate locals make a stand and destroy the village tollgate, Evan feels duty bound to support them. But with wanton Efa Lloyd determined to make her own rules, can Sam keep his promise to Evan to never hurt Gwen again? As the Rebecca Riots spread throughout South Wales, tensions mount, and a violent battle against greed and inequity ensues. Will the consequences be as devastating as the Merthyr rising? SAMPLE PDF 
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Wales Rising Box Set: The Luddite Rebellion, the Merthyr Rising, and The Rebecca Riots
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Historical Fiction
Child labour, starvation wages, the industrial revolution, rebellion, risings, and riots! A family saga. 1812. Evan's family slave in a slate quarry in Wales, while Elen's are struggling to make a living spinning and weaving in rural Yorkshire. Desperation leads both families to the woollen mills of the industrial heartland of northern England, where Evan and Elen meet and fall in love. Starvation forces them to rise against the cruel mill owners, and the machines that are taking their jobs. 1831. Little has changed, and Evan's ministry in Merthyr Tydfil is a den of poverty, 'vice, and ungodliness'. When petitions to parliament and the king fail, desperate workers rebel against the iron masters with tragic consequences. 1839. Evan, Elen and their family are moved to a ministry in Carmarthenshire. Exorbitant tolls on the roads of rural Wales are crippling farmers, and once again Evan is drawn into the riots that follow. 
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Series Firsts: An Anthology (Sarah Stuart and Rebecca Bryn)
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Fiction Anthology: Historical, Romance, Thriller
First Series comprises six novels, the first books of six award-winning trilogies or sagas. Themes are historical, romance, and thrillers. The authors have created a tapestry rooted in Tudor times, through transportation to Australia and the conflict and turmoil of the Industrial Revolution, to present-day London, England. Lifelong friends, they invite you to share their characters’ dreams, fears, struggles, and successes. 
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Watercolour Seascapes: Painting Seas Made Possible (by Rebecca's alter-ego, Ruth Coulson)
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A step-by-step guide to painting transparent watercolour seascapes using masking fluid. Detailed demonstrations with a wealth of pictures as well as basic painting information for the new painter.
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Animal Portraits: Painting Animals Made Possible (by Rebecca's alter-ego, Ruth Coulson)
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A series of step-by-step demonstrations in painting animals using pastels, watercolour, and ink. Loads of illustrations, tips, and tricks, and special advice for photographing pets for pet portraits.
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You're Not Alone (An Indie Author Anthology)
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Anthology
I was honoured to answer a call for a short story when a friend in a Facebook group came up with the idea of an anthology to support Macmillan Cancer Nurses. Twenty-seven international Indie authors have contributed to make ‘You’re Not Alone’ a fantastic read. This anthology was the idea of Ian D Moore who recently lost a loved one, Pamela Winton, to cancer. He wanted to do something to honour her life and to support the wonderful volunteer work done by Macmillan cancer nurses. He asked the group for short stories, to give to this cause, and the response was immediate: all of us have been touched by cancer, or will be at some point in our lives. The theme of the stories is relationships, and the interpretation of that theme, from a very talented worldwide group of Indie authors, is fascinating, funny, sad and thoughtful. My own offering is Ooh, Air Margrit, a story that is embarrassingly true. All royalties from sales of the anthology will go to the Pamela Winton fund to support Macmillan nurses. The anthology can be purchased as an e-book or in paperback at Amazon. Read Christoph Fischer's blog interview with Rebecca Bryn 
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