Pit Bank Wench

by Meg Hutchinson

Emma Price seems doomed to the workhouse after being cruelly raped by a colliery owner. But the kindly folk of Wednesbury take her in and her life is changed forever

490 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

This author has also released books under the name Margaret Astbury.

Reviews

[Bionic Jean]

Ho-hum saga in the Catherine Cookson tradition. Melodramatic.

[Linda]

Really good read, no boring bits.

[Hayley Stanbury]

It was really good. I really Love Meg Hutchinson.

[Tara]

The man raped her.

[A.E.]

this is the most insane book I’ve ever read

[Jennifer Aitkens]

I'm giving two stars to this book for bringing to vivid life the wall of obstacles that faced women in the olden days (year?). Rich, poor, gay or straight, no woman gets ahead in this novel about the dystopian good old days except on a man's arm.

But after those two stars, I can't in all seriousness give anything more for this book. It is as if the author made a list of all the bad things that could befall women and turned it into a narrative. Among other things, the protagonist is raped and gets pregnant. Her parents' house burns to the ground and they don't make it out. She is forced out of her mining community to wander alone on the road. A kindly butcher and his wife take her in and life looks good again, but then ... he accidentally hacks off his hand with his meat cleaver. Oh, and he doesn't just lose his hand, he dies. And she, her baby, and the butcher's wife are out on the street.

Page after page, chapter after chapter, the tragedy never ends. Until the rapist sees the light and rescues her.

Seriously?

[Anuja]

reminds you that patience and faith are indeed virtues.

[Ophelia]

That ending saved everything .
Woah! What a ride this book had been <3