FOR BETTER OR WORSE is the fourth in the Liza Marchant series in which her journey in life continues through the words of modern-day writer, Ellie Fuller who, with her brother Eddy, own the old offices of the Marchant & Fuller company in Belfast.
The first in the series, FOR ALL TIME, follows Liza through her marriage at the age of 17 to James Marchant, who was thirty years her senior. He was in partnership with Wendell Fuller in the Belfast shipping company Marchant & Fuller. On his untimely death Liza decides to travel from her home in Belfast to America. That decision leads to disaster when she and her great friend Kate are taken captive by the Cherokees who think that Liza has mystical powers. When she eventually gains her freedom, she makes the small American town of Benson her home and finds great happiness when she marries young Lieutenant Patrick Kelly, although the loss of Kate weighs heavily on her and she wonders whether she has died in some primitive Indian encampment.
The second is entitled AGAINST ALL ODDS and follows Liza's return to Benson after having spent some time back in Belfast. There is fear and love at that time but when she experiences a powerful vision of the future, she risks her marriage, her family and her freedom by acting on what she has seen.
In the third in the series, NOW AND FOREVER, Liza faces the extreme highs and devastating lows that life throws at her and any happiness that she experiences turns to sadness. It is at such times that Lord Jamie Edgeworth comes to the fore to give help and protection to Liza, who he had loved all his adult life.
As she continues her research, Ellie is amazed to realise that somehow Liza has been brought back to life and in her dreams she is a little unnerved when she also feels the warmth and affection that Liza had from all those around her. She hopes that Liza finally found contentment with the decisions she made for the good of herself and her family.
However, in the fourth book of the series, FOR BETTER OR WORSE, that contentment is put to the test as there was always someone wishing to create havoc and that was Jamie's ex-wife Evelyn, whose jealousy made her dream up many devious ways to disrupt Liza's family, which resulted in her return to Belfast to 'lick her wounds'. This does not last long, for when Jamie's life is threatened, she realised that to live without him was not what she truly wanted. She loved him and therefore had to forgive him.
There are still many, many twists and turns in her life and on the family's return from a trip to Italy, Jamie learns that a friend is languishing in a Portuguese prison and he places himself in grave danger when he endeavours to find a way to rescue him. However, whilst he is away, Evelyn takes advantage of the situation and attempts to kidnap James, her own son, which creates pandemonium in the household and sets Liza on a breakneck trip to try to stop the boy being taken out of the country.
Ellie Fuller still has further letters and diaries to study, and she wonders whether she would have been able to take all the pressures placed on Liza all those years ago, probably not, she thought.
Ellie is also attempting to unravel a constant mystery that appears to concern Liza; it relates to some exquisite emerald jewels that had been found in an old safe in the Marchant & Fuller building; Liza is adamant they are not theirs to keep or sell. Ellie and her brother Eddy are mystified, for if they do not belong to them, then who do they belong to? The more they delve into Liza's life the more intrigued they become; they therefore feel that they must contact the current Lord Edgeworth to find what he may know. They are also determined to travel to all the places that she went to all those years ago, especially her beloved town of Benson.
