The Low Road

Reviews / Votes

'An
absorbing, tender and brutal tale about love, betrayal, destitution and
redemption. A heart-rending story, impeccably researched, packed with rich and
realistic detail, and reminiscent of Charlotte Bronte and Sarah Waters'

Jane Harris, author of The Observations



'A darkly gripping picaresque tale of cruelty, courage and kindness as an
orphaned girl survives poverty and injustice to seek love on the other side of
the world'

Maggie Gee, author of The White Family



'Beautifully written, achingly moving historical fiction. Echoes of Charlotte
Bronte and Emma Donoghue, but the essence is Katharine Quarmby's own unique
gift of storytelling'

Essie Fox, author of The Fascination



'An engrossing and beautifully written novel. All sorts of horrors are to be
found here, but also love and bravery and hope. A must for lovers of historical
fiction'

Adele Geras, author of Dangerous Women



'Historically, most of the population were domestic servants, but they rarely
left any record of their thoughts and experiences. In The Low Road,
Quarmby brings servant girl Hannah convincingly to life. It's beautifully
written, and Hannah seems entirely believable: not sentimental, often
untrusting, but able to maintain her integrity'

E.J. Barnes, author of Mr Keynes' Revolution



'The haunting, beautifully told tale of a young woman's struggle against the
unforgiving institutions of her day; a struggle not just for survival, but for
the right to live with dignity and the right to love and be loved. Young Hannah
Tyrell's story is as gripping as it's moving and The Low Road is
a book that will stay with me for a long time'

Marika Cobbold, author of On Hampstead Heath



'Vibrant... Quarmby immerses the reader into the early nineteenth century with
this page-turning tale of forbidden passion and a woman's ultimate triumph over
adversity. A traditional saga, harking back to the glory days of Catherine
Cookson, but with a very modern twist'

Michelle Styles, author of The Gladiator's Honour



'A convincing and fully immersive everyday world. The story goes at a
rollocking pace, you are introduced and reintroduced to fully formed characters
at every twist, and yet the focus is tight on Hannah and the world the reader
experiences through her eyes. She grows up and matures as an increasingly less
unreliable narrator completely believably'

Adam Macqueen, author of the Tommy Wildeblood series



'Ever evocative of time and place, The Low Road reads
compellingly as an act of love and restitution'

Lydia Syson, author of A World Between Us



'At times a hard, and uncompromising read, nonetheless Quarmby
has fashioned a beautiful story of forbidden love and loss, and the doggedness
of the human spirit, that ultimately leads to redemption'

Julia Williams, author of It's a Wonderful Life



'A
well-crafted and intensely dramatic novel, with characters you care about
facing circumstances so dire a contemporary audience might strain to fully
imagine them'

Sydney Morning Herald



'Soft, swelling storytelling... Beautiful writing transports you to every place
with ease'

Australian Women's Weekly



'Impeccably researched, increasingly gripping'

Tom Shakespeare, The Friend



'A beautifully written novel. From the streets of London to the distant shores
of Australia, readers are immersed in a world that is rich in detail and
atmosphere'

Tasmanian Times



'A vibrant queering of convict history... The voices of these working-class
queer women - categories nearly as invisible to history as they were to the
period - come to life in Katharine Quarmby's hands'

Brisbane Times



'The reader is drawn into this beautiful story from the first page. A
compelling and exquisitely crafted story, immaculately researched and written
with such love'

The Australian Friend



'The descriptiveness of Hannah's thoughts, her environments, the conditions,
the women she meets, and the controlling men that impact her life, all make
this story so credible and riveting. You feel as if you are there with her...
It is important that stories like Hannah's are preserved. A very
thought-provoking read'

Beauty and Lace Book Club



'Moving...a resolute tale of survival'

Whispering Stories



'Because the story is based on fact, it becomes so much more real and
disturbing. The quality, depth and detail of the research is clear'

Trip Fiction



'Against a backdrop of adversity, bright spots of kindness, love, and beauty
shine through'

Friends Journal



'The novel is almost a "progress", but closer to Hogarth than Smollett or
Cleland; the otherwise voiceless Hannah is granted her place in history at
last.'

Historical Novel Society