📖 Blog Tour ~ A Family Secret by Libby Ashworth

 

On Hist Fic Saturday I'm thrilled to host a stop on this blog tour

Let's go back to ...1842

Arrow Publishing
4 February 2021

Mill Town Lasses #3

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and the invitation to the blog tour

Lancashire, 1842 

Sixteen-year-old Bessie Eastwood works long hours as a weaver in Blackburn, helping to support her family. Meanwhile older sister Peggy works as an apprentice at the Girls’ School, hoping for a more prosperous future as a schoolteacher.

Jennet and Titus Eastwood have always decided what is best for their daughters. But as they near adulthood the sisters are determined to choose their own futures. And with temptation in the way, will the girls find love, or lust, leads them astray?

When an unexpected but familiar face arrives in Blackburn, the family’s future is threatened, and a difficult decision will have to be made – love or family..

📖 My thoughts..

It's been really lovely to step back in time with the latest in this series of historical sagas which are set in the mill town of Blackburn, Lancashire, at the height of its cotton manufacturing heyday. 

In A Family Secret trouble is brewing for the Eastwood family as mill production is threatened when working hours are compromised by changes in working conditions. These changes do not sit lightly on those who are both working, and fighting, for the right of fair pay for a fair day's work. Inevitably changes are coming, and young Bessie Eastwood and her father, Titus, both mill workers, are filled with a real sense of unease about their job security. Meanwhile the older sister, Margaret, is facing her own challenges as her quest to better herself takes her life in an altogether different direction. 

When old secrets, which are buried deep at the heart of this family start to threaten, and those who have read the earlier books will know what they are, the future starts to look even more uncertain for  members of the Eastwood family.

As with the previous stories, there's a real sense of community spirit, and the warmth, and camaraderie, of the northern, no nonsense, spirit comes alive.The author captures the historical accuracy of life in a Victorian mill town, and the northern vernacular feels natural, just as if the characters were sitting in your Victorian parlour having a cup of tea, and a slice of bread and butter. I remember my own grandmother, herself a Lancashire mill girl, telling me about the deafening noise of the weaving sheds and about shuttles and looms, warp and weft, whilst at the same time, slicing bread with the expertise of a French swordsman.

A Family Secret is the third book in the Mill Town Lasses series and whilst it can be read a standalone it does bring in characters from previous novels and in a way this book is tying off some of the loose ends which were left hanging after the first book. Beautifully written, as always, A Family Secret is a lovely continuation of the saga.

 

About the author

Libby was born and raised (and still lives) in Lancashire and her passion for the area really shines through in her writing. Her inspiration comes from researching her family history and the two main characters are based on her great, great, great, great grandparents.

Website

Twitter @elizashworth #AFamilySecret

@arrowpublishing