A Daughter's Price by Emma Hornby
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas
Read: 2nd November 2020
Published: 14th May 2020
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
She thought she was finally safe. But a roof over her head comes with a price to pay...
Laura Cannock is on the run. Suspected of killing her bullying husband, his family are on a merciless prowl for revenge. Fleeing from her beloved home of Bolton to Manchester, Laura seeks refuge with her coal merchant uncle. But it soon becomes clear that a roof over her head comes with a price – of the type so unbearable she must escape once more.
Destitute and penniless, a stench-ridden housing court in the back streets of the factories is Laura’s only hope of a dwelling – a place where both the filth and the kindness of neighbours overwhelm. Here people stick together through the odds, leading Laura to true friendship, and possibly love. But with the threat of her past still hanging over her, there’s still one battle she must fight – and win – alone…
A gritty and page-turning historical saga set in Northern England in the late 1800s, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin.
MY REVIEW:
I absolutely love historical fiction. Stepping back in time to another world, another era...another life even. A DAUGHTER'S PRICE promised to be everything I love in an historical fiction novel...but sadly, the vernacular made it difficult to follow. I have read many books that used their own vernacular for the region in which it was set, but I don't know what it was about this one that just made the dialogue confusing.
The story follows twenty three year old Laura Cannock, who has returned to her father's home in Bolton after the sudden death of her husband. But Adam's family believe that Laura had a hand in his death and have been seeking her out. After knocking on their landlady's door in search of her, Laura and her father flee Bolton for Manchester where her uncle Ambrose is a coal merchant. But no sooner than they have left when Laura turns for one last look at her home town to find their former home and their landlady's shop ablaze. The Cannock brothers are hot on their tail.
Upon arrival in Manchester, Laura and her father move in with Ambrose, her father's well-to-do brother whom Laura finds to be something of a snob. He calls them out for referring to the servants as anything but their surname, citing that it would breed familiarity, and yet his nights are spent with that same servant on his squeaky bedsprings. What a hypocrite, Laura thinks. Uncle Ambrose gives her father a job delivering coal and, after a disturbing incident in a seedy part of town, he also gives Laura a job in the office. But when her father begins to feel unwell, Laura jumps in to deliver the coal alongside him unbeknownst to her uncle whom, she's sure would frown upon it.
But then she soon begins to feel uncomfortable with her uncle after a few too many brushes of her breast, hands about her waist and the weight of his stare. I found him downright sleazy. And it isn't long before Laura finds herself having to flee again after one too many times trying to escape his advances. They seek refuge in a nearby house in a court where she finds kindness in the strangers who become her neighbours.
A DAUGHTER'S PRICE is a story of friendship, love, loss and extreme poverty, but in amidst it all is a heartwarming one of hope. There are a number of challenges that Laura and her father must overcome as they deal with revenge and forgiveness in the midst of poverty.
Although I found the old Lancashire dialogue difficult to follow, A DAUGHTER'S PRICE is a journey to another time that can be both frustrating as well as endearing, with moments of sorrow, happiness, frustration and fear. There are some predictable moments but you come to expect that from historical fiction as it doesn't spoil the story but rather enhances it. And a perfect way in which to escape.
I would like to thank #EmmaHornby, #NetGalley and #TransworldDigital for an ARC of #ADaughtersPrice in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Emma Hornby was born in Bolton, England, in 1983 on a tight-knit, working-class estate. She is mother to three fantastic children, slave to a demanding cat, and fiancée to Mark, an adult support worker whom she met when they were both sixteen.
History has always been Emma's passion and she grew up with her nose buried in sagas. Before pursuing a career as a novelist, she had a variety of jobs, from care assistant for the elderly to working in a Blackpool rock factory. She later wrote short stories and non-fiction pieces for the internet, print and stage and also worked as a freelance poet.
Emma's books are gritty historicals set in Victorian and WWII Bolton and Manchester, which she began writing after researching her family history. The colourful folk she unearthed gave her plenty of inspiration; like the characters in her novels, many generations of her family eked out life amidst the squalor and poverty of Lancashire's slums. Her first book, 'A Shilling for a Wife', was the bestselling debut saga novel of 2017. Her subsequent titles regularly appear in the official bestsellers' charts.
Her new saga, 'The Maid's Disgrace', is out February 2021. She is currently writing her seventh.
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