Angel Meadow

by Audrey Howard

Nancy Brody is different from the rest of the folk in Angel Meadow, the appalling slum where her drunken mother Kitty was a prostitute . . . Only nine years old, Nancy decides to save her sisters Mary and Rose from the workhouse. She gets work for them all at the Monarch Cotton Manufacturing Mill - and then sets out to better herself and her sisters. Saving every penny, working every waking hour, Nancy succeeds, becoming a manufacturer herself. But happiness seems as elusive for Nancy as it was when she was a mistreated child. Though he once said he loved her, Mick O'Rourke has become Nancy's worst enemy, and seems destined to take a terrible revenge on her and her sisters. And Josh Hayes, the man who truly loves Nancy, seems destined to be parted from her.

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Historical

536 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Audrey Howard was born on 1929 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK, and grew up in St Annes on Sea, Lancashire, where she lives in her childhood home.

Before she began to write she had a variety of jobs, among them hairdresser, model, shop assistant, cleaner and civil servant. In 1981, while living in Australia, she wrote the first of her bestselling novels published since 1984. In 1988, her novel The Juniper Bush won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Nancy, Rosie and Mary's mother leaves them and for some reason never comes back its upto Nancy as the eldest to take charge at a very young age and try her best to keep the family together against insurmountable odds.
Determined to become a leading light in the world of cotton and weaving she embarks on a quest to learn everything she can along with her sisters to rise them up out of the slum area they live in.
But things take a disastrous turn when Nancy is raped and left pregnant.
Can Nancy overcome this change in fortune, bring up a child the product of rape by someone she knew, can they make it in the cotton industry and can she ever be happy and find the love she craves from the well bred young gentleman Joshua Hayes?
Tragic, at times uplifting but full of gritty determination to survive at a time when women were a lower class of being with no hope for a decent future.
A wonderful tale that will grip any historical novel fan.

[Isabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The story is interesting, of a down trodden little girl who, through her wits and hard work, is able to raise herself and her sister above the conditions they were born into.

While I enjoyed the story even though it was far fetched, the ending was overly dramatic and unbelievable. I ducked 0.5 star because of it.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review taken from my Blog Post #108 - I borrowed this from the local library in April 2011, and thought I would share my thoughts with you:

Having read a couple of these now, I think I am fairly safe in saying that you are never going to get a good beginning for her characters, and the road is decidedly rocky along the way to a happy (and sometimes tearful) ending. A 4.5 star review for this one - finding it very difficult to put down.

The Brody girls, Nancy, Mary and Rose lose their mother when she goes out into the night after a customer who doesn't pay for use of her body. After a week the young (9 years old Nancy) seeks work in a mill as a Spinner - never mind the fact that she's never worked before let alone attempted anything like that. Thanks to Annie another Spinner she pulls it off and goes on to save every penny they earn, educate the girls and start her own business.

A chance meeting with Josh Hayes eventually leads her to a happy marriage and safe life for her and Mary .... but what of Rose .... you will have to read it I'm afraid!!

[Charysse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the fact that this book had a strong female character in it. You rarely come across a book where the female is so strong that she will do just about anything in her power to overcome her situation and put her family first, stripping herself of childhood to become the head of the family. Her story is definitely an empowering one.
I was leaning towards a four star rating, but dropped it to a three when I read the ending - the book failed to include the endings of the other strong roles that played in the book. The book also killed off a character that barely developed, which gave me some frustration because I was starting to really like the character.
This was an okay book - if you like historical fiction with romantic ties, you'll find this to be an okay read.

[Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still liked it, but it wasn't one of my favourites from the lovely Audrey Howard, it was missing some closure for me. Short review will be up with my Read-a-Thon wrap up on YT.