A Pride of Sisters — Evelyn Hood

A story of two sisters set in Greenock, Scotland in the 1870s at the close of the era of the transatlantic clippers.

The family's pride led their father to his tragic death and left the two sisters penniless. There were few opportunities for a young woman without money to marry out of her class but Annis believed it was far better to grasp the one hand that was being held out to her. Her elder sister, Olivia, beautiful yet full of resentment, is furious that Annis has married before her even though she thought lowly of Annis' husband, the wealthy but staid ship-owner Douglas Moncrieff.

Matters come to a head when Gideon Brenner, the American captain of a Moncrieff clipper, is immediately besotted by the lovely Olivia. But she is merely affronted by the seaman's attentions and, determined to make her own destiny, departs to the other side of the world to become a governess in Melbourne.

But for Annis, the arrival of the young American marks the start of the slow-dawning realisation of how restrictive â€" and ultimately dishonest â€" her marriage to Douglas really is.
The sisters' lives could not be more different, but each finally discovers that they have to overcome their pride to find true love.

'Reminds me of Catherine Cookson' Glasgow Evening Times