The Cotton Spinner (Mill Town Lassies #1) by Libby Ashworth
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas
Read: 13th August 2020
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Published: 16th July 2020
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Lancashire, 1830
When Jennet and Titus Eastwood are forced to move from their idyllic cottage into the centre of Blackburn to find work in the cotton mills, their lives are changed in ways they could never have imagined and their new home on Paradise Lane is anything but . . .
Then Titus is arrested and sent to prison for attending a Reform meeting. Jennet is left to fend for herself and things go from bad to worse as she finds herself pregnant and alone – with another man’s child . . .
MY REVIEW:
What a delightful read THE COTTON SPINNER by Libby Ashworth is! Set in the industrial north west amidst poverty as well as the gentry, once I was there I didn't want to leave. It is well written, captivating and wholly engrossing from beginning to end.
Lancashire, 1830: Jennet and Titus Eastwood are struggling to make a living and move from their comfortable home in the country to Paradise Lane, Blackburn for work in the cotton mills. They are both accustomed to working from home, with Jennet a cotton spinner and Titus a weaver, as they have done all their lives like their families before them. But when the mills began to take all their trade, Jennet and Titus found there was no work for hand spinners and weavers with their ability to produce more cloth in a much faster time.
The house in Paradise Lane was a poor sight in comparison to the one they left behind and the air now thick with dust and smoke from the mills, making the clean country air they were accustomed to a distant memory. But with a young baby to care for, they had to go where the work was and Titus soon found himself employed at the local mill on one of the machines. But the hours are long and the wages are low and when their young daughter is taken ill, Jennet must use some of the money from the sale of their hand loom to pay for a doctor. Then when the mill owners discover they are producing cloth quicker than they can sell it, they have to let some of their workers go...and on a last come first to go basis, Titus soon finds himself out of work once again.
When they first moved into number 10 Paradise Lane Jennet and Titus knew no one, but they were soon befriended by their kindly neighbours Lizzie and George. Lizzie, especially, became a good friend to Jennet during the long days when Titus was still at the mill. Jennet thought about finding some work herself and Lizzie gave her the name of a woman who minds children should she do so and need someone to take little Peggy during working hours. But Jennet was accustomed to having Peggy with her while she worked and refused to entertain the idea of someone else caring for her child.
But she had to do something as the money from the sale of their loom was fast dwindling and with Titus out of work, they still needed to eat and pay the rent. Then one night George next door tells Titus of a reform meeting taking place up on the moors, and despite Jennet's misgivings, Titus is drawn into attending. But it all goes horribly wrong when the meeting is hijacked and a decision is made to storm the mill. Then when he and George become separated, Titus finds himself carried along with the surge of the crowd and is ultimately in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the constables arrive, he is arrested along with the others and taken to Preston until his hearing in a couple of days.
When Jennet sees that George has returned home but Titus hasn't, she begins to worry. George has no idea what happened to Titus as they had become separated but he agreed to stand up and speak to his character at his hearing. But on the morning of the hearing, George informs her that he cannot go as he must stay with Lizzie who has been ill and taken a turn for the worse. So Jennet and her father make the journey on their own. They return disheartened with the news that Titus has been bound over for trial at the Assizes in Lancaster in three months time.
How will Jennet and Peggy survive without Titus' income? Can she find work and look after Peggy at the same time? Will her parents be able to help her, though they live more than an hours' walk away?
Then Jennet's sister Hannah comes to stay with her and the two women get work at the mill while Peggy stays with her parents in the country. But it is long and hard and there is also the roving eye and wandering hands of Mr Hargreaves. But more than that, Jennet soon finds herself pregnant with another man's child and worries what Titus will say when he finds out. And soon she finds herself begging for relief from the vicar's wife for assistance to help feed Peggy.
THE COTTON SPINNER is a beautifully spun historical saga which sweeps us back in time to the harsh realities of poverty and life in the industrial north west. It takes us from the countryside to the grim streets of Blackburn to the noise and dust on the factory floor to the harsh working conditions and low wages and then into the Victorian penal system - it was the epitome of hell on earth.
Libby Ashworth uses her own ancestors as inspiration for this story, bringing the time period alive and the lives of Jennet and Titus in this beautifully told tale.
THE COTTON SPINNER is the first the Mill Town Lassies series set in the industrial north west. I read this book in one sitting, loved it and cannot wait to devour the next installment "A Lancashire Lass".
Perfect for fans of Catherine Cookson and Dilly Court and lovers of historical fiction sagas.
I would like to thank #LibbyAshworth, #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK and #CornerstoneDigital for an ARC of #TheCottonSpinner in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Libby Ashworth (Elizabeth) has been a published writer since she sold her first short story to Pony Annual as a teenager.
Her debut saga, The Cotton Spinner (Arrow, April 2020), the first in the Mill Town Lasses trilogy, is set against the backdrop of 19th Century industrialisation. When Jennet and Titus Eastwood are forced to move from their idyllic cottage into the centre of Blackburn to find work in the cotton mills, their lives are changed in ways they could never have imagined.
Elizabeth was born and raised in Lancashire, where she can trace her family back to the Middle Ages. It was while researching her family history that she realised there were so many stories about ordinary working people that she wanted to tell. She has previously written historical novels - The de Lacy Inheritance (Myrmidon Books) and By Loyalty Bound (Pen and Sword) – as well as local history books for Countryside Books and Sigma Press.
She currently lives in Lancashire with her son.
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