Marchwood

I could literally smell the hovel in Whitechapel and the description of the trenches. What hell those men went through! Can’t wait for the next one!

Such a gripping, engaging read, a book to really lose yourself in. I loved the emotion of the characters especially Mary, as her life takes many turns in a fascinating time, you really feel you are on the journey with her. Loved it!

This story made for harrowing reading at times. Such poverty is incomprehensible sitting here so far removed from the 19th century. I loved how all the characters (real people) had moments of elegance and yet also depravity, changing according to circumstance. Just like reality. I have never read dickens. But I am thinking I am inspired to now.

Just finished this book and I am completely blown away by it, I so enjoyed it and such an emotional ending, brilliant!

As "Marchwood" begins. The reader is immediately confronted with the reality of life for some unfortunates like Mary Nolan, thrust into an uncaring world in the years when the Industrial Revolution was busy chewing up the remnants of the British agricultural system. London is a jungle, and often, for the poor, the choice of aspiration was to become prey or predator. Modern fiction demands a measure of trust in the author, and perhaps historical novels demand even more. The challenge is ably met here by Rosalind Conway. It is a tale of ordinary people in Essex, one small corner of a country, when the ground seems to be moving daily beneath their feet. Seth is a gruff drover/horsetrader, driven primarily by the desire for more cash, while Mary, his partner in crime; strong, loyal and hard, is all he needs to provide him with sons, daughters and a home to which he can return when he is done womanising. With close to no education at all, the Marchwood duo has to react daily to circumstances that can deal out survival or oblivion, and they do it so well, more often than not outside the rules. How refreshing it was for me, to read a new work based in the past, that feels like it was written in the past. The descriptions ring true as accurate testimony, the dialogue is frighteningly direct. Pain, deprivation and love are dealt with, each as a part of the other. Via horse-theft, burglary, pick-pocketing, prostitution and war, there is a remarkable tenderness in the relating of the story of the Marchwood family. This is gem of social history.