Devious Affairs: A Dynasty Shaped by Passion and Crime (The Destiny Series, # 2) by Roger Penfound

When Emma returns to Britain in 1954, destitute and alone - she has only the crumpled note from her dead half-sister and a burning desire to take what is rightfully hers. Arriving one night at the house of her half-sister’s bereaved husband and child she knocks on the door seeking redress for events that years ago that drove her away to a life of poverty America. Bearing a striking resemblance to her half-sister, she slowly becomes absorbed into the lives of the husband and child, slipping with seamless efficiency into the roles of wife and mother. Soon she is married and twins are born. But tragedy strikes in 1960 when her new husband dies and Emma is left to run the family construction business which is tendering for contracts in war ravaged London. The business is beset by power struggles, corruption and strikes. In a testosterone fuelled male environment, Emma’s survival instincts are tested to the full as she fights for control. When a building union calls for strike action she forms a strategic alliance with a local gangland boss and begins an affair with him which sets her at odds with her family and colleagues.

Meanwhile, Michael, her adopted son, is recovering from a long series of operations which enable him finally to walk. Knowing that he is destined ultimately to run the company, he begins to challenge Emma’s ethics and values as she continues to build a power base amongst the rich and influential.
The battle between stepmother and stepson provides a climactic ending to this epic novel - a riveting story of passion, greed and power at the highest levels set against a backdrop of London in the ‘swinging’ 60’s.