A Workhouse Christmas
a perfect, heartwarming Christmas saga
Published on 27. August 2020
Book
Hardback
416 pages
978-0-349-42513-9 (ISBN)
Description
Discover the Workhouse to War trilogy by Kay Brellend: a new saga series set in the Whitechapel Union workhouse in East London, between 1904 and 1916. . .
Christmas Eve, 1909. Eleven-year-old Lily Larkin is left to fend for herself in an East London workhouse after her dying mother is taken to an infirmary: her future looks bleak. Once she is separated from her twin brother, Davy, her childhood hopes seem to shatter. But Lily's fierce spirit - along with her beloved new friends - help her to endure the miserable drudgery of life at South Grove Workhouse and its cruel supervisor, Miss Fox.
When a handsome, smartly-dressed gentleman shows up at the workhouse, claiming to be her cousin and with an offer of employment, Lily seizes her chance to escape. But her new job is far from perfect, and her reunion with her brother isn't what she thought it would be. Still, she relishes her freedom from the workhouse, and, finding herself on the cusp of womanhood, is determined to embrace her new life - until a shocking secret from her past is uncovered. As everything she'd ever believed about herself is thrown into confusion, will Lily ever be able to rise above her past?
Praise for Kay Brellend
'Vividly rendered' Historical Novel Society
'A fantastic cast of characters' Goodreads
'Thoroughly absorbing' Goodreads
Christmas Eve, 1909. Eleven-year-old Lily Larkin is left to fend for herself in an East London workhouse after her dying mother is taken to an infirmary: her future looks bleak. Once she is separated from her twin brother, Davy, her childhood hopes seem to shatter. But Lily's fierce spirit - along with her beloved new friends - help her to endure the miserable drudgery of life at South Grove Workhouse and its cruel supervisor, Miss Fox.
When a handsome, smartly-dressed gentleman shows up at the workhouse, claiming to be her cousin and with an offer of employment, Lily seizes her chance to escape. But her new job is far from perfect, and her reunion with her brother isn't what she thought it would be. Still, she relishes her freedom from the workhouse, and, finding herself on the cusp of womanhood, is determined to embrace her new life - until a shocking secret from her past is uncovered. As everything she'd ever believed about herself is thrown into confusion, will Lily ever be able to rise above her past?
Praise for Kay Brellend
'Vividly rendered' Historical Novel Society
'A fantastic cast of characters' Goodreads
'Thoroughly absorbing' Goodreads
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
680 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-349-42513-9 (9780349425139)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Kay Brellend was born in north London and her first saga, based in the early twentieth century slums of Islington, was published in 2011. The opening novel in the Bittersweet Legacy trilogy came out in 2017. Published by Piatkus, this series was set in a London sweet factory and on the Somme battlefields.
Kay's Workhouse to War trilogy was also set during the Great War, beginning in the Whitechapel Union Workhouse and moving to the bustling markets of East London, between 1914 and 1918. Now she's beginning a new trilogy with A Daughter's Heartbreak, inspired by true wartime events in the Silvertown area of East London. Kay writes with all the heart, grit and personal connection that distinguishes her as one of the most exciting voices in the saga genre.
Kay's Workhouse to War trilogy was also set during the Great War, beginning in the Whitechapel Union Workhouse and moving to the bustling markets of East London, between 1914 and 1918. Now she's beginning a new trilogy with A Daughter's Heartbreak, inspired by true wartime events in the Silvertown area of East London. Kay writes with all the heart, grit and personal connection that distinguishes her as one of the most exciting voices in the saga genre.