A Place to Call Home

The Williams family have been living on the hulks, derelict warships moored alongside Sheerness dockyard, homes for the dockyard workers and their families. Still grieving for her mother, Emily is determined to make a home for her father and siblings. They move into a small cottage in Blue Town, the settlement just beyond the dockyard wall. Dismayed by the cramped conditions and lack of facilities, Emily determines to make the best of it, telling herself anything is better than the damp and mouldy hulks.

Emily finds an escaped convict hiding in the woodshed and takes in the cold and wet young man. Harry is terrified of the gang who coerced him in to helping them. Emily and her father persuade him to turn himself in and he promises to go straight in future. It is love at first sight for the young couple and Emily is devastated when Harry is transported to Australia to finish his sentence.

When her father is injured in a dockyard accident, a friend, Lenny, brings him home and helps to look after him. He wangles his way into the family home in the guise of friendship. Emily, although she can never forget Harry, is taken in by him and they marry.

Meanwhile Harry finishes his sentence and works hard to save enough to return to England and find Emily. Will the young lovers ever be reunited or will Lenny stand in the way?

Editorial Review by Victoria Chatham

A Place to Call Home by Roberta Grieve

The Isle of Sheppey lies off the northern coast of Kent, close to the Thames Estuary. In the 17th century, the Royal Navy built a dockyard at Sheerness on the island. To overcome the problems caused by wind and tides, several hulks were placed on the foreshore to act as breakwaters. These decommissioned ships housed dockyard workers and accommodated prisoners, including those waiting for transport to penal colonies in Australia. The first houses built in Sheerness formed a community known as Blue Town.

Against this background, Roberta Grieve sets her story about the Williams family. Dad Joe is a widower who works in the dockyards while his daughter, Emily, cares for her brother, Joey, and baby sister, Cissie. They love their new home and quickly settle in. Emily holds her family together through the grim daily grind of manual labour and low income. But then Joe is involved in an accident, and his health slowly declines, leaving Emily to make tough choices for all their sakes.

What shines in this story is Emily's humanity, resolve, and determination to do her very best to benefit all of them. Despite their low situation, her pride in herself and her family overcomes poverty, and her hope for a better future never fades. This tale has many twists, keeping readers turning the pages until the very satisfying conclusion.