6 Mary Jane Staples Books The Trap Echoes of Yesterday Last Summer Ghost of Whit

The Trap - Some wear to the cover. "S" on first inside page.

Echoes of Yesterday - Some wear to the cover. "1" on the first inside page.

The Last Summer - Some wear to the cover.

The Ghost of Whitechapel - Crease on back cover.

The Way Ahead - Some wear to the cover.

The Soldier's Girl - Good condition. "Doreen" on first inside page.

The Trap

When Jamie Blair, 24, unemployed and back from the trenches, took lodgings at Larcom Street in Walworth, he had no idea he was walking into a trap. The house was owned by Henry Mullins, big, burly and a hard drinker. Henry made life hell for his four stepchildren who looked half-starved and frequently got bashed. 

Seventeen-year-old Kitty was the one Jamie felt most sorry for. She took the brunt of Henry Mullins' bad temper whilst trying to protect her sisters and brother. 

When Mullins suddenly died - in somewhat suspicious circumstances - Kitty realised they could be in trouble. If she wasn't careful the authorities would take the younger children away - split the family up. 

She wasn't having that, not after all they'd gone through, and nice, kind Jamie Blair was the one to save them. Too late Jamie found himself with a ready-made family and a stubborn and fiery young termagant called Kitty who was determined not to let him go.

Echoes of Yesterday

It was June 1916 when Sergeant Boots Adams of the Royal West Kents, together with his men, was billeted on the Descartes farm in Northern France. It was a short break from the turmoil and horror of the trenches, and Boots and his men, in return for their free billeting, were to help the farmer in his fields. 

It came as something of a surprise to discover that the land was being managed by a young French war widow, Cecile Lacoste, and, to the distant sound of guns, a brief wartime friendship flared between Boots and Cecile. 

The friendship was cut brutally short when, once more, the West Kents were called back to the trenches and Boots suffered an injury that was to take him home to London, to Sammy and Chinese Lady, and all the valiant cockney friends of Walworth who were to help him through the darkest period of his life. 

It was to be many years before Boots' friend, Miss Polly Simms, visiting the old battle haunts of France, stumbled once more upon the Descartes farm, and the memories of the past were rekindled.

The Last Summer

Job and Jemima Hardy weren't Londoners by birth. They had both lived in a Sussex village until lack of work had sent Job and the family to Walworth - to a house in Stead Street. They got it cheap because of the poltergiest, but they were sensible folk and decided that eight shillings a week rent was a bargain, and - well - if the floors and doors sometimes moved a bit, they could live with it. 

They settled quickly into London life - particularly Jonathan, the eldest. Jonathan got a job at Camberwell Green, and it was there, in Lyons teashop, that he met Emma Somers, niece of Boots Adams. Over a long and hazy summer - the summer of 1939 - the two young people met, always at lunchtime and never allowing their friendship to progress too far.

Then, as the clouds of war gathered over Europe, Jonathan got his call-up papers. The first alarms of conflict began to affect the Adams family in other ways. Boots, on the Officer's Reserve list, was called onto the staff of General Sir Henry Sims, and Polly Sims herself joined the Auxiliaries. 

​​Suddenly there was only a little time left for people to lead ordinary lives - and Jonathan Hardy and Emma Somers had to make decisions about their future.

The Ghost of Whitechapel

When fiery Bridget Cummings advertised for a lodger, she did not expect a policeman to apply for the room. She wasn't fond of the coppers, believing them to be traitors to the poor of Whitechapel, but her younger brother and sister moved PC Fred Billings in, the moment Bridget's back was turned, and she seemed to have little say in the matter. Still, she had to admit that she was glad of his company in the walk back from her late-night washing up job, particularly when a young girl was found in a nearby street with her throat cut. 

The discovery of the body of Maureen Flanagan, who was, the neighbours believed, a respectable woman, naturally stirred memories of Jack the Ripper. His horrific crimes had shocked the neighbourhood only 12 years before, but Chief Inspector Dobbs of the City of London Police believed, like most other police officers, that the Ripper was dead. 

But when a second body was discovered, and Bridget noticed a strange man following her, the neighbourhood was alert to the possibility that the terror had returned.... 

The Way Ahead

It is 1944, and the Adams family, along with the rest of the people of the United Kingdom, are beginning to weary of the seemingly never-ending war against Hitler's Germany. 

Bobby Somers and Helene, living dangerously in the French countryside with a group of Resistance fighters, find themselves in great peril. 

Boots returns from the war in Italy, to the delight of Polly and their two little rascals, twins James and Gemma - but he brings with him a German prisoner who has a horrifying story to tell of the concentration camps. 

And while Sammy and Susie Adams are keeping the family business going as best they can during the privations of wartime London, their son Daniel catches the eye of a lively young American girl who brings a welcome breath of fresh air to the Adams household, so many of whose younger members are doing their bit for the war in various far-flung places of the world. 

0As plans for the long-awaited invasion of France get under way there is excitement and danger, but love continues to blossom in the most difficult of circumstances.

The Soldier's Girl

Young Maisie Gibbs is a conscientious young woman, though life is harder since both her parents passed away. She is relieved when she finds a position as a housemaid in Kensington, under the watchful eyes of the formidable housekeeper, Mrs Carpenter, and she quickly settles in.

When she meets a handsome young soldier, she is tempted to give him his marching orders. But gradually Corporal Daniel Adams starts to win her over.

When tragedy strikes the Fairfax household, Maisie is lucky she has Daniel to rely on - a good sign of things to come?

The books are in good  / acceptable, clean previously read condition. See above for more details.

They have been stored in a pet and smoke free home.