The new novel from Orange Prize listed author Patricia Ferguson, is a deeply moving tale about two sisters and the young black orphan who changes their lives - for anyone who loves Call the Midwife or Andrea Levy. "Violet Dimond", the "Holy Terror", has delivered many of the town children - and often their children - in her capacity as handywoman. But Violet's calling is dying out as, with medicine's advances, the good old ways are no longer good enough. Grace, Violet's adopted daughter, is a symbol of change herself. In the place where she has grown up and everyone knows her, she is accepted, though most of the locals never before saw a girl with skin that colour. For Violet and Grace the coming war will bring more upheaval into their lives: can they endure it, or will they, like so many, be swept aside by history's tide? A moving tale of prejudice, struggle, love, tragedy, bravery and the changing lives of women in the twentieth century
The Midwife's Daughter Series
This series delves into the lives of women in the early 20th century, exploring their struggles against prejudice and societal shifts. The narratives focus on themes of family, love, and resilience in the face of adversity, including wartime upheaval and racial tensions. It offers compelling and emotional storytelling, following characters as they navigate a world undergoing profound transformation.
Recommended Reading Order
Aren't We Sisters?
- 443 pages
- 16 hours of reading
Following on from The Midwife's Daughter , Aren't We Sisters? is a gripping novel about buried secrets and unlikely friendship. Norah Thornby can no longer afford to live in her grand family home in the centre of Silkhampton. Unless, perhaps, she can find a respectable lodger. But Nurse Lettie Quick is not nearly as respectable as she seems. What's really going on at the clinic she has opened? And why has she chosen Silkhampton? Meanwhile the beautiful Rae Grainger has found the perfect place to stay, in an isolated house miles away from the town. It's certainly rather creepy, especially at candlelit bedtime, but Rae knows that all she has to do is stay out of sight, until others - paid, professional others - are ready to take her little problem away. Then she can just forget the whole ghastly business... can't she? No one guesses, of course, that there's a killer quietly at work in Silkhampton; that in one way or another all three women are in danger...