19th century Wales - not a country or period I was very familiar with and this story a mix of historical fiction along with a complex story of both love and betrayal was portrayed very well.
The setting was tough. A hard setting to have any degree of warmth or much happily ever after and the fact that it achieved a certain degree of it, bodes well for the author's story telling. The spirit of nationalism as well as social upheaval was beginning and uprisings were becoming common. The ordinary man seemed to have had enough and fighting against tolls and taxes is the background for this story.
Our heroine Mary handles adversity stoically, from the suicide of her father to the injury caused to her brother, the loss of the farm held by her family for generations and the entire burden of the family falling on her shoulders. It was a hard story to follow because there seemed no let up at all for Mary and whatever happiness she had was fleeting and then taken away.
The story telling was very good and characters were spot on.
The book was sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review courtesy of Endeavour Press.
Sounds like a sad life for Mary.
ReplyDeleteMary has been through so much from the sounds of it. I haven't heard of this one, but I think I might like this one as well. Thank you for the recommendation!
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