The Dock Girl's Shame by AnneMarie Brear
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas, Victorian era
Read: 14th March 2024
Published: 16th March 2024
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A broken heart, a shameful secret…
Wakefield, Yorkshire 1871
Loretta Chambers has spent her life working at her father’s boatyard down at the docks. She’s tried hard to keep the business afloat, but with the railways taking trade away every day, Lorrie fears for the worst.
The arrival of handsome Italian, Matteo Falcone brings a brief glimmer of hope and a yearning inside Lorrie for another life, away from the filthy grime of the dockside. But despite her feelings for Matteo, she could never travel to Italy with him, and leave her father alone.
But one reckless, impetuous moment leaves Lorrie with a secret she will struggle to hide. And when tragedy strikes at the boatyard, Lorrie is left feeling more alone than ever before.
Always a dutiful daughter, Lorrie now carries a shame that could ruin her life forever…
MY THOUGHTS:
A broken heart...a shameful secret...
This is the second in the Waterfront Women series, the first being "The Waterfront Lass" which I loved. This one is another standalone tale featuring Lorrie Chambers, one of the three waterfront lasses in which the series surrounds. As the first one was Meg's story and this one is Lorrie, I can only assume the third will centre around Fliss. As with the first book, this is another great read which I devoured in one sitting once again.
Lorrie Chambers has lived on the waterfront with her father Ernest Chambers since she was six years old after the death of her beautiful Italian mother Arianna. He was the sole owner of Chambers Boatyard Builders and Repairs, that is until the entrance of Oswald Lynch, with whom her father sold a percentage of the business to in order to save it from going under. But Lynch made Lorrie's skin crawl and she feared he had nefarious plans for the boatyard and her father. However, her father refused to be swayed. And no matter how much Lorrie tried to keep out of Lynch's way, he continued to seek her out even proposing marriage on occasion. Something which made Lorrie baulk at the sheer thought of it.
Then one day, handsome Italian Matteo Falcone enters the boatyard with a gift for Lorrie from her great grandmother, for whom she was named, who had recently passed away. It seems they were distantly related - their great grandmothers being cousins. Lorrie's father was furious at Matteo's sudden appearance and thought nothing good could come of it. But Lorrie found herself attracted to Matteo and when her father was suddenly injured, he stepped in to help run the boatyard until her father recovered.
But the more time the pair spent together, the more chance trouble would come of their union. But that was to be the least of Lorrie's troubles to come. How would she fare when more tragedy struck and threatened her livelihood?
Another good solid read from Aussie author AnneMarie Brear that I thoroughly enjoyed as I whiled away the hours of the afternoon. I didn't care for Matteo one bit. He wanted his cake and to eat it too. In my experience, Italian men are far too sure of themselves and self-absorbed. I knew any dalliance with him would spell trouble for Lorrie...and the title kind of gave that part of the story away. However, I didn't agree with the title as Lorrie proved herself to be a strong and resilient woman in the face of adversity.
I look forward to reading Fliss' story next and wonder what Ms Brear has up her sleeve for that one.
Perfect for fans of Catherine Cookson, Lindsey Hutchinson and Dilly Court.
I would like to thank #AnneMarieBrear, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #TheDockGirlsShame in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Living in England during the 1980s and more recently, AnneMarie developed a love of history from visiting grand old English houses and this grew into a fascination with what may have happened behind their walls over their long existence.
Her enjoyment of visiting old country estates and castles when travelling and, her interest in genealogy and researching her family tree, has been put to good use, providing backgrounds and names for her historical novels which are mainly set in Yorkshire or Australia between Victorian times and WWII.
A long and winding road to publication led to her first novel being published in 2006. She has now published over twenty-seven historical family saga novels, becoming an Amazon UK best seller and with her novel, The Slum Angel, winning a gold medal at the USA Reader's Favourite International Awards in 2019, and a silver medal for The Market Stall Girl in 2021. Two of her books have been nominated for the Romance Writer’s Australia Ruby Award and the In’dtale Magazine Rone award.
AnneMarie now lives in the Southern Highlands of N.S.W. Australia with her husband and her family.
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