Betty Woodcock

Child of Misfortune Betty Woodcock

Publisher Marketing: Whilst holidaying alone in the Las Vegas, Melandra, only child of a billionaire, meets an over-friendly woman and her son, Troy. Melandra, warned by her father to keep her background private as people are always after money, is cautious. However, these people hint at a connection to the richest family in America...and the son is very handsome and charming. Soon Melandra is trapped in a ramped up hard sell of romance. An Elvis lookalike marries Troy and bedazzled Melandra in a small chapel with a white picket fence. Every girl's dream, coos his mother. On her wedding night, Troy goes to get her favourite ice cream-and doesn't come back. Melandra waits for him in vain, and when she discovers her credit cards are maxed, she realises she has been conned. She doesn't want to admit her catastrophic mistake, or her debts, to her father, the managing director of a bank. She tries to track down Troy, but is unsuccessful. Determined to settle her debts herself, she resorts to shoplifting-and gives a false name when caught. She is horrified to receive a custodial sentence. She had expected to be home for lunch. In prison, Melandra has two major concerns- remembering to respond to her false name, and sending a deceiving message to her busy-busy mother before her absence from home is noticed. The latter proves impossible...and problems mount. Melandra is proud of her ability to deal with any situation at the drop of a hat, but this skill is taxed to the limit when her biggest problem of all occurs... Troy's mother is an inmate of the prison, under a different name. This woman is a link to Troy... but a ticking bomb re Melandra's false identity. How will she deal with this situation? Contributor Bio:  Woodcock, Betty BETTY WOODCOCK lives in the UK, and began her working life, aged sixteen, in the analytical laboratories of ICI, before moving on to the accounts and costing department at David Browns, where she stayed until her marriage. Between raising three sons, she and her husband founded a small engineering firm producing teaching equipment, and doing subcontract work. She became an efficient machinist, together with dealing with the office side of the business. After her husband's early death, Betty ran the firm for two years before moving to the Civil Service to work for both the Inland Revenue and the Home Office, retiring from Prison Service to follow her dream of becoming a novelist. Betty, an animal lover and an avid reader, is interested in the occult because she has actually seen ghosts-which initially was quite a shock, but very intriguing. THE PRAM is the third novel of five, and Betty is working on number six.