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Trying Times for the Mill Girls by Chrissie Walsh #Review #TheLockwoodInheritanceBook2

  West Yorkshire 1900-1918 Today we are going back to the early days of the twentieth century to see how life in Almondbury changes at this critical time.   Trying Times for the Mill Girls by Chrissie Walsh is published  today on December 5th by Boldwood Books .   You can read  my review of Book 1 in the Lockwood Inheritance series, A New Dawn for the Mill Girls   here   In changing times, even the strongest must fight to hold on... At the dawn of a new century, mill mistress Verity Hardcastle and her husband Oliver welcome their long-awaited twins: gentle, golden-hearted Briony and spirited, stormy Blaise. From the beginning, their children seem destined to pull in different directions—but the Hardcastles stand united, proud stewards of Lockwood Mill and its tight-knit community of hardworking girls. As the winds of change sweep through Yorkshire—from the rise of the suffragette movement to the shadow of war—the mill stands firm. ...
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For When I'm Gone by Rebecca Ley #Review

 

 Rebecca Ley's debut novel, For When I'm Gone was published on 3rd September by Orion. 

Because there's never enough time to say goodbye...

Sylvia knows that she's running out of time. Very soon, she will exist only in the memories of those who loved her most and the pieces of her life she's left behind.

So she begins to write her husband a handbook for when she's gone, somewhere to capture the small moments of ordinary, precious happiness in their married lives. From raising their wild, loving son, to what to give their gentle daughter on her eighteenth birthday - it's everything she should have told him before it was too late.

But Sylvia also has a secret, one that she's saved until the very last pages. And it's a moment in her past that could change everything...

My Thoughts

This is a superb debut novel which has some poignant and heart-wrenching moments. You move from the present to the past through the journal which Sylvia has written for her husband as a sort of guide to how he can manage after her death from breast cancer. Through her words, you getto know her. Paul, her husband discovers a few things he did not know about her. It is a powerful story of grief, loss and moving on.

    Sylvia turns out to be a complicated but sincere person and you get to see her in her different roles: wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend. Through her, you also get to meet her children. There is so much that resonates with the reader. The daily minutiae of everyday living is set against some profound moments of self-awareness. Although at times it feels unbearably sad, there is also a feeling of resilience and hope. It is one of those books which touches a nerve at times and which has a lasting effect on the reader. Marvellous

In short: Read with a box of tissues to hand!

About the Author


Rebecca Ley is a journalist who wrote a column for the Guardian, Doing it for Dad, about her father's dementia. She has previously worked at the Times, the Sun and the Daily Mail. For When I'm Gone is her debut novel.

You can follow Rebecca here: Twitter 

Book link: Amazon UK 

Thanks to Rebecca Ley, Orion Books and Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for a copy of the book. 


 

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