Saturday, July 16, 2022

Book Spotlight: ‘A Ha’penny Will Do’ by Alison Huntingford

 


‘A Ha’penny Will Do’

Alison Huntingford

 

Love, dreams and destitution

Three members of one family are linked by their struggle to survive poverty and war at the turn of the century. 

Kate, a homesick, lonely Irish immigrant, dreams of being a writer.  After difficult times in Liverpool she comes to London looking for a better life.  Hoping to escape from a life of domestic service into marriage and motherhood, she meets charming rogue William Duffield.  Despite her worries about his uncertain temperament, she becomes involved with him. Will it be an escape or a prison?

Fred is a restless elder son, devoted to his mother yet locked in a tempestuous relationship with his father.  War intervenes and he secretly signs up to serve abroad.  Is his bad reputation deserved?  What will become of him?

Joe, too young to sign up for WWI, is left to endure the hardships of war on the home front and deal with his own guilt at not being able to serve.  He starts an innocent friendship with his sister-in-law which sustains him through hard times.  Will he survive the bombs, the riots, the rationing and find true love in the end?

 These are their intertwined and interlocking stories recreated through the medium of diaries, letters and personal recollections, based on the author’s family history covering the period of 1879 – 1920. The truth is never plain and rarely simple.

This novel is a fresh and compelling look at life for the working-class poor in England at the end of the Victorian era.  Covering issues such as the struggle for home rule in Ireland, the hardships of domestic service, marital strife, the suffragettes and the horrors of World War 1 on the home front and abroad, this is a realistic and gripping tale which keeps the reader involved in their human plight all the way.

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Achievements:

Nominated for the Walter Scott prize for Historical Fiction  2019

Took part in ‘A Miscellany of Authors’ at Blandford Forum Literary Festival  2019

Western Morning News describes ‘The Glass Bulldog’ as ‘a gripping tale of dark pasts and second chances’   2019

5 star reviews for ‘The Glass Bulldog’ on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook

Radio Interviews with Chat & Spin, BBC Radio Devon and The Voice FM (N.Devon)

Published a short novella ‘Someone Else’ available on Amazon  2020

Founded the South Hams Authors Network first meeting Sept 2021

Second full-length novel ‘A Ha’penny Will Do’ published January 2022

Author Takeover Day on the Historical Fiction Club Facebook Group Feb 2022

Book Launch and signing, Ivybridge Bookshop, February 2022

Readings at Ivybridge, Kingsbridge and Totnes libraries 2022

5 star reviews for ‘A Ha’penny Will Do’ on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook

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Alison Huntingford

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