Rediscover the brilliance of A Long Way From Home in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers.

A sweeping and page-turning romance that sees eighteen-year-old Katy Kelsey flee her Scottish Hebridean island for the Mediterranean in search of belonging, family and new horizons .


‘Kelsey was killed and his wife had the child a fortnight later, but she died. I don’t know if she even saw the baby. And then this aunt took the baby .’

Katy Kelsey is an orphan. Raised on the Scottish Hebridean Isle of Folda by her aunt, she comes of age not knowing her true ancestry. When her aunt dies, Katy – fearing the future – discovers that long ago her grandfather, Charles Kelsey, once tried to help her. Setting off for London, she seeks him out to beg his assistance.

But instead of her grandfather, she finds dashing family lawyer Adam Maxwell. Adam – wanting to help – takes pity on Katy, flying her to the family villa on the Spanish island of Santa Carina.

There she meets the other Kelseys – who resent this cuckoo in their midst. And Katy fears they’ll uncover the secret reason she came to find her grandfather.

The only one she dares trust is Adam. But can a simple island girl really trust her own complicated feelings?

Praise for Rosamunde Pilcher

‘Pilcher’s storytelling skills are beguiling’ The Times

‘Pilcher wrote absorbing page-turners, taking what was called “romantic fiction” to an altogether higher, wittier level’ Guardian