The Ferryman's daughter

Can Hester help her family escape desperate poverty and fulfil her dreams?

1908: Hester always loved her mother best, her father had always been a hard man to like, spending more time (and money) in the local than with his family. After her mother's sudden death, followed by an injury forcing her father to give up his job as the ferryman, Hester is placed in the position of care-giver for her young brother and sister.

As the years pass Hester must row the ferry night and day to keep them all from starvation, while her hopes of working in a kitchen and one day becoming a cook, slip further and further away.

But just how far is Hester willing to go to make her dream a reality? And as the threat of war comes ever closer to the Cornish coast, will it bring opportunities or despair for Hester and her family?

About the author

Website

https://julietgreenwoodauthor.wordpress.com/

Twitter

julietgreenwood

Juliet Greenwood writes sweeping historical family sagas for Orion, based around determined young women fighting to make their own futures against the odds.

Juliet has always been a bookworm and a storyteller, writing her first novel (a sweeping historical epic) at the age of ten. She is fascinated both by her Celtic heritage and the history of the women in her family. Her great-grandmother was a nail-maker in Lye, in the Black Country, and her grandmother worked as a cook in a large country house.

After graduating in English from Lancaster University and Kings College, London, Juliet worked on a variety of jobs to support her ambition to be a full-time writer. These ranged from running a craft stall at Covent Garden to workshops in story-telling, along with spells of teaching and charity fundraising, and more recently as a freelance editor and proofreader.

Juliet has previously written stories and serials for magazines, as well as three previous historical novels, two of which reached the top #5 in the UK kindle store.

Juliet now lives in a traditional quarryman’s cottage between the mountains and the sea in beautiful Snowdonia, and is to be found dog walking in all weathers, always with a camera to hand…

My Review

I really loved how this book highlighted the predicament of women in the early nineteenth century. The unfulfilled dream of Hester's mother to run her own restaurant is heartbreaking, especially when it seems that Hester will also fail in her desire to control her own life. It is hard to imagine these as fictional characters, so strongly did they jump off the page and embed themselves in my consciousness.
Life was hard in the Cornish community but sometimes fate can lend a helping hand. The idea of having little or no control over who a girl must marry seems anathema to us now but it really isn't that long ago. All the way through this book I was keeping my fingers crossed for Hester to find a solution. 
The background of rowing the ferry really places this book in context as well as showing how reliant on the weather and the tides the people were. It only takes one misfortune to change lives and likewise one piece of good fortune to change them for the better.
This is a thoroughly absorbing read and when I'd finished, I really didn't want to come back to reality.