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1872: On
a journey, for her health, to her doctor uncle’s village, the
delicate Victoria Kilburn is attracted to an enigmatic woman on the
train. The woman, Marian Cotton, a relative newcomer to the
village, is unpopular. She is articulate, something of a wise woman, and
outspoken. Although she offers service in the village as a typhoid and
smallpox nurse she is an independent forthright woman whose moral sense is
suspect in this inward looking village which is beset by illness and
poverty.
Victoria,
escaping from the cloying and sometimes cynical over-protection of her
affluent London family, becomes drawn into Marian Cotton’s complex life.
Their friendship leaps over class and type boundaries as Marian cures
Victoria of a lifelong skin complaint, and introduces Victoria to
the shoemaker Aaron Whitstable, who helps her overcome a difficulty she
has with walking. Within the framework of Marian’s sometimes crude
wisdom and insight Victoria begins to grow and change into the woman she
will be. Aaron, a radical, intelligent man, and Victoria are
attracted to each other – a relationship encouraged by Marian.
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Wendy
says ‘This
novel springs out of the true story of Mary Ann Cotton, the famous 19th
Century case of a woman condemned and hanged for murder who (pure legend
and hearsay has it…) was guilty of as many as twenty murders. Through
the years the more I looked at the case against her, the more unjust and
contrived it seemed. This is my creative attempt to redress the balance.
In this it is pure fiction, although all the main characters, except
Victoria and Aaron, and all the public events are on the historical
record.
See
my article on this site, about the writing of this novel |
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Both William
Kilburn, Victoria’s doctor uncle, and Thomas Riley, the grocer who is
also the parish relieving officer, appreciate many of Marian Cotton’s
powerful qualities. However Mrs Cotton is increasingly unpopular in the
village – especially among the women - for her attitudes and actions,
especially the way she teeters over the tight moral boundaries they set
themselves.
Then one by one
Marian Cotton’s lodger and her children and stepchildren begin to die.
Suspicion flowers into certainty and Marian is arrested after the death of
the last child, Charlie Cotton, who was a favourite of Mr Riley. The
newspapers fill with fantastic accounts of Marian’s life before
she came to the village, which add to the growing fury of condemnation and
vengeance within the community and further afield.
Despite the
bandwagon of blame, eventually joined by Kilburn and Riley, Victoria and
Aaron are steadfast in their belief in their friend’s innocence. As they
desperately battle to find out the truth the juggernaut of rumour,
scape-goating, and dubious legal practice rolls forward to its seemingly
inevitable conclusion.
Throughout all
this the relationship between Victoria and Aaron deepens and strengthens;
they live a life and look to a future which would have been entirely
different had they not known this unusual woman. You can win this book in
Wendy's August Competition ! |
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