Ropewalk; Rebellion. Love. Survival
The Ropewalk Series
By H D Coulter
The North of England, 1831.
The working class are gathering. Rebellion is stirring, and the people are divided.
Beatrice Lightfoot, a young woman fighting her own personal rebellion, is looking for an opportunity to change her luck. When she gains the attention of the enigmatic Captain Hanley, he offers her a tantalising deal to attend the May Day dance. She accepts, unaware of the true price of her own free will.
Her subsequent entanglement with Joshua Mason, the son of a local merchant, draws all three into a destructive and dangerous relationship, which threatens to drag Beatrice, and all she knows into darkness.
Now, Beatrice must choose between rebellion, love and survival before all is lost, and the Northern uprising changes her world forever.
Publication Date: 23rd November 2020
Publisher: Independently Published
Page Length: 243 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Independently Published
Page Length: 243 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
MY THOUGHTS
Beatrice Lightfoot feels trapped. She spends her life in the midst of chaos, her only peaceful moments are early in the morning, when she sneaks away to watch the ships at the harbour. She spends the rest of her day clashing with her mother, whose personality has turned bitter and unkind, while looking after her youngest siblings and working on the intricate lace patterns she creates. She works hard, and her mother gives her no credit, criticising her every move, every decision.
Beatrice wants nothing more than to escape, to sail away on one of the boats in the harbour and start a new life, one of her own – but she can see the impracticality of such a dream, and it would never come true, so there was no point in dwelling on it. The May Day dance is fast approaching, and she does not want to go and be reminded of the differences between herself and the genteel ladies. However, when she is gifted a beautiful length of material, for the simple price of the first two dances, Beatrice’s hopes look up. She would go to the dance, with a beautiful dress made from the expensive material, and she would spend the night pretending she was one of the ladies in the room.
Although she is not directly involved, Beatrice is incredibly aware of the unrest. People cannot afford to feed their families, the wages are impossibly low, and there are not enough jobs or houses. The government had made promises that they had not delivered through with, and there is talk of a rebellion, a revolt.
Beatrice is an incredibly strong woman who goes through so much but stands resilient. There is a definite love triangle, if one could call it such. At the start of this novel, I thought Captain Hanley was gentlemanly and kind, but I could not have been more wrong. Like Beatrice, I fell into his trap and quickly saw the error of my ways. However, unlike Beatrice, I wasn’t trapped in a situation that put me in danger, a situation that one would never want to find themselves in.
In contrast to Captain Hanley, is Joshua Mason, who is a true gentleman, who is honestly and is sincerely in love with Beatrice with no ulterior motives. Although, there is the issue of him being of the upper class and her a mere cottage girl. If there was ever such a wonderful man in a novel, a perfect gentleman, it is Joshua. He is incredibly kind and, although he has been raised to take over the family business, to use the lower classes for his own gain, his relationship with Beatrice teaches him to see things in a new light. The lower classes should not be used as a means to expand a business, to build a fortune, especially when they can hardly afford a loaf of bread to feed their children with.
The differences between Hanley and Joshua are stark, and the situation that is presented to Beatrice is an impossible one. Her social status means that she could never marry Joshua, even though she loves him and he, her. Hanley, however, would be a suitable and wise match for her. Even her mother thinks so. The only problem is that Beatrice cannot stand him, and he has a past that appals her and a personality that scares her. Everything is pushing her towards Hanley, while her heart pulls her towards the old harbour wall, to meet with Joshua.
The ordeals that Beatrice goes through are harrowing. While the first half of the book focuses on the rival between Hanley and Joshua for Beatrice’s affections, the second half proves their differences, prove who she belongs with and who would stop at nothing for petty revenge. The horrors that Beatrice lives through at the hands of someone who supposedly loves her are truly shocking and so incredibly well written that one cannot help but hold a hand over their mouth as they read in shock, hoping against hope that Beatrice will be okay, that she will end up living a life with the man she loves, and more importantly, that she escapes the ordeal with her sanity, let alone her life.
One thing in particular that caught my attention was that Beatrice did not suffer and walk away unscathed. She feels and suffers the effects of the trauma afflicted upon her, and her reactions are believable and heartbreaking. She should never feel the instinct to flinch away from the man she loves, but fate had dealt her hand, and he was of the male gender – fate had proved to her that they could not be trusted. The scenes are written with such delicate prose that I almost found myself in tears several times.
This novel is written with such brilliance that I have no qualms with reading it again, and I was simply devastated to find out that book 2 is not out yet, for this one ends on such a cliffhanger that I immediately wanted to pick up the next one to keep on reading. If there is any such novel that will pull you in and not let you back out, it is this one, and you are missing out if you have not read this book.
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Saving Grace; Deception. Obsession. Redemption is now available on pre-order:
H D Coulter
Hayley was born and raised in the lake district and across Cumbria. From a young age, Hayley loved learning about history, visiting castles and discovering local stories from the past. Hayley and her partner lived in Ulverston for three years and spent her weekends walking along the Ropewalk and down by the old harbour. She became inspired by the spirit of the area and stories that had taken place along the historic streets.
As a teacher, Hayley had loved the art of storytelling by studying drama and theatre. The power of the written word, how it can transport the reader to another world or even another time in history. But it wasn't until living in Ulverston did she discover a story worth telling. From that point, the characters became alive and she fell in love with the story.
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