The day Joe Remington brought his new bride to Fell Rise, he had already sensed she might not settle easily into his home just outside the Tyneside town of Fellburn. Making plain her disapproval of Joe's familiarity with the servants, questioning the donation of food to striking miner's families-these objections and more soon rubbed Joe and the local people up the wrong way, a problem he could easily have done without, for this was 1926, the year of the General Strike, the effects of which would nowhere be felt more acutely than in this heartland of the North-East.
Then when Elaine becomes pregnant, she saw it as a disaster and only the willingness of her unmarried sister Betty to come and see her through the confinement made it bearable. But in the long run, would Betty's presence only serve to widen the rift between husband and wife, or would she help to bring about a reconciliation?
Catherine Cookson's powerful novel spans the years of change leading into WW2 and explores the many facets of a marriage based on initial passion rather than love.
Then when Elaine becomes pregnant, she saw it as a disaster and only the willingness of her unmarried sister Betty to come and see her through the confinement made it bearable. But in the long run, would Betty's presence only serve to widen the rift between husband and wife, or would she help to bring about a reconciliation?
Catherine Cookson's powerful novel spans the years of change leading into WW2 and explores the many facets of a marriage based on initial passion rather than love.
There is always a twist in Cookson's books and this book does not disappoint. She is one of my favorite authors with a knack for seeing inside people and fleshing out the characters. Not usually an "action" type of author, she none the less manages to bring some excitement into what is otherwise a novel that looks into the depth of the soul. Great book...read it.
