Hi again. This is my third and final post on the 3 Book Tour for the latest additions to Tania Crosse’s Devonshire series. These are Historical Fiction based on Dartmoor, Cornwall and are all stand alone. Last is THE RAILWAY GIRL. I hope you enjoy my review.
The Railway Girl by Tania Crosse
Format: Kindle
Publisher – JOFFE BOOKS
Publication Date – 16th September 2020
Genre – Historical Fiction
Author – Tania Crosse
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A heart-wrenching story of poverty, grief, love and compassion based around the building of the second railway through the historic market town of Tavistock on the edge of Devon’s Dartmoor.
It is 1887 and times are lean. When West Country farm labourer, Emmanuel Ladycott, and his dairymaid daughter, Tresca, lose their jobs on the land, they head for Tavistock where Emmanuel hopes to join the hundreds of navvies working on the new railway.
Lodging together in a tiny attic room, Tresca is determined to forge a new life among the overcrowding and poverty of Bannawell Street. But when Emmanuel is dismissed from the railway, Tresca doesn’t know whether to blame her father or his Irish foreman, Connor O’Mahoney.
Torn apart by her conflicting emotions, events spiral out of control, leaving Tresca broken and on the brink of despair. Lost and betrayed, will she find the strength and courage to fight for her future?
My Review
It is 1887 and Tresca and her Dad have just secured a permanent post on a farm when her Dad’s drinking problem rears its ugly head and the pair are sacked. The prospects of finding more work locally are non-existant so the pair set off to Tavistock in the hope Emmanual can find work on the Railway.
The work is hard and the pay is poor and Tresca is unable to find work for herself so they rely on her Dad’s pay. Living squashed in a small room life is hard but Tresca is determined and saving what she can she manages to save what little she can and life goes on.
When tragedy sees her friend moving back to Ireland Tresca manages to rent a better room and buys bits and bobs to make it homely. Then her Dad gets drunk at work and is fired. With no income and everything pawned life in the Workhouse looms and what is left of Trescas dignity is stripped from her.
The man she blames for everything going wrong is the foreman Connor. She wants to hate him he wants to help and eventually a truce is called. Can Tresca finally be happy it seems so
This is an emotional roller coaster of a book I was feeling sorry for Tresca then for Connor and had to reach for the tissues in several places. A heartbreakingly good read.
Tania Crosse author bio
Historical novelist Tania Crosse was born in London and lived in Banbury Street, Battersea, where her two most recent titles are set. However, at a very young age the family moved to Surrey where Tania’s love of the countryside took root. She always enjoyed reading and has composed stories ever since she could hold a pen. After studying French Literature at university, she devoted twenty years to bringing up her family. But her passion for writing never left her, and side by side with her in-depth research into Victorian social history, she began to pen her novels in earnest as her family grew up.
When Tania discovered Morwellham Quay, the restored Victorian copper port and now living history museum in Devon, she fell in love with this magical place and felt a spiritual compulsion to create a story that would illustrate life there in times gone by. This led to the publication of her debut novel, ‘Morwellham’s Child’, and now Tania has fourteen published titles with which to thrill her readers.
Tania has now completed her series of novels illustrating the rich history of Tavistock and the surrounding area of Dartmoor from Victorian times to the 1950’s. She is now working on a series of Twentieth Century stories set in London and the south east. She draws very much on her own experiences of life to create her books. She hates being catagorised as a writer of historical romance. The history comes first, she insists, and the human tales develop from her research. The characters lead harsh, demanding lives and their stories are often cruel and harrowing.
Tania has been happily married for forty five years and claims she would never have achieved her success without her husband’s support. They have three grown up children, two grandchildren and three grand-dogs!
LINKS
Website: http://www.tania-crosse.co.uk/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TaniaCrosseAuthor/
Twitter: @TaniaCrosse
You may also like:
The Wheelwright Girl and The Ambulance Girl by Tania Crosse
1/3 – BOOK TOUR: The Gunpowder Girl by Tania Crosse
2/3 – BOOK TOUR: The Quarry Girl by Tania Crosse
3/3 – BOOK TOUR: The Railway Girl by Tania Crosse
