The Factory Girl

by Elizabeth Lord, Maggie Ford

From rags to riches. . . With the Armistice only a few months past, times are hard for 18-year-old Geraldine Glover. A machinist at Rubins clothing factory in the East End, she dreams of a more glamorous life. When she meets Tony Hanford, the young and handsome proprietor of a small jewelers' shop in Bond Street, Geraldine is propelled into a new world—but it comes at a heavy price.

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

First published with short stories, went on to writing novels, family sagas and historicals around 1980s. First novel published by Piatkus, London, in 1992. Since then there has been 22 novels published with one in the pipeline and one with my publishers Severn House.
You can check out my books avaialable on Audios and CDs

Reviews

[Shirley Revill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book and found it very hard to put down.
The story is set just after the armistice in world war one and a change of fortunes for one girl.
Love doesn't always run smoothly and sometimes hard times where perhaps the best.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A girl who works in a London factory is determined to make good, and she marries a young jeweller back from WW1. They become prosperous and fall in with the glamorous crowd. But the prosperity is built on dodgy dealings, and the longer it goes on, the more exposed they become to East End crooks.

I like that we never lose sight of the everyday people, through our heroine going home to Mum and keeping in touch with the family.

This is an interesting romance with lots of historical touches, including a trip to Egypt.
This is an unbiased review.

[Kady Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook version very good.

[Maeg Lim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Factory Girl (Maggie Ford/Elizabeth Lord)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I confused some of the characters in The Factory Girl with A Mother’s Love characters. Maggie Ford is from East End and the setting of these two books were in East End.

This book is about courtship, marriage, unethical business that make people really really rich. The book talks about different social classes - focused on the extremes. Those who are poor and those who are really wealthy. It talks about dishonesty in business, in relationship, in marriage. Geraldine went through a lot. Stillborn, unsuccessful marriage, poverty, debt, death.

This is better than A Mother’s Love.

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geraldine has grown up in poverty living in the east end of London just after WW1. She is working in a factory, makes her own clothes and is interested in Tony who owns a jewelry shop close to where she works. Tony seems to have the life that Geraldine wants and does end up marrying him, but is it a good thing?

[gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

All Geraldine wanted was to better herself, not realising the affect it would have on her life! This storyline had me riveted, couldn't wait to turn the page to see what was coming next. Well done Maggie ford!

[Ami Nurlianti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really engaged with this book. The setting and characters were well written though I was wondering whether Alan and his previous wife had gotten a child or not as it said he had to marry her because she got pregnant. Wondering too who’s actually Geraldine really in love with.

[GenX · Rating 2 out of 5]

Geraldine is a very anxious obsessive character. Drove me nuts. Won't be reading this one again

[Harley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The factory Girl was a decent book. I love how it's set in old England. I also found Geraldine to be careful when it comes to her personal life and what type of person she is. Although, it is a basic book much like the others.

[Karen Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read based on life in the East End of London after the first world war and one girls transformation from the poor class to the middle-rich class? With gains and losses can she escape her roots? I would have liked to have been introduced in depth to the other characters of the book.... this focusses very much on the main character. Glad to have read it. (Not at this stage rushing out to buy another book from this author)

[Paula R C R. C. Readman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the easy flow to Elizabeth's writing as her story carries you along.
She is a mistress of the family saga and her books should be more freely available.