The River Maid

The River Maid #1

by Dilly Court

London, 1854: twenty-year-old Essie Chapman lives with her father in poverty stricken Limehouse, working on the river as a boatman. Her life seems set before her, never to leave this part of London and forever at her father’s beck and call.

Then, one night, she must transport a mysterious man from a foreign ship to the banks of the Thames, a man who ends up renting a room in Essie’s house, identifying himself only as ‘Raven’.

When curiosity gets the better of her, Essie follows him and unwittingly becomes involved in something far greater than she could ever have guessed. Finding herself on a ship bound for the penal colonies in Australia with Raven and his cousin Alice, this is only the start of a remarkable journey taking her to the other side of the world and back again…

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Historical, Ebooks, Fiction, Historical Romance

512 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Dilly Court grew up in North-east London and began her career in television, writing scripts for commercials. She is married with two grown-up children and four grandchildren, and now lives in Dorset on the beautiful Jurassic Coast with her husband. She is the author of eighteen novels and also writes under the name of Lily Baxter.

Reviews

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in London in 1854. Twenty year old Essie Chapman lives with her father in poverty stricken Limehouse, working on the river as a boatman. She's forever at her fathers beck and call. One night, she has to transport a mysterious man from a foreign ship. The man ends up renting a room in Essie's house. When curiosity gets the better of her, Essie follows him and unwittingly becomes involved in something far greater than she could ever have guessed.

This is the first book in a new series. The story takes us from Essie looking after her father as he had fell and hurt his back, and doing his job as a boatman. She meets Raven, a mysterious stranger, when she brings him ashore. She returns home one day to find her father has rented a room to him. Her adventure starts when she finds herself aboard a ship bound for the penal colonies in Australia with Raven and his cousin, Lady Alice. Essie finds gold in Australia and longs for home. When she arrives back in London, Essie is a wealthy woman and along with Lady Alice, they will try and clear the names of Raven and his brother Freddie from a crime they did not commit. I can't wait to read what happens in the second book in this series. I can not praise Dilly Court highly enough. Her books never disappoint and are always a pleasure to read.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great start to a series,this book starts with essie living with her pa who owns a small boat and loves his drink she ends up helping taking a guy raven to escape the law but ends up going to Australia with Alice a posh lady and a young girl there adventures begin.great rid from dilly court.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dilly Court is one of my favourite authors and I usually devour her books. Unfortunately The River Maid didn't live up to my expectations. I found it dragged and that I wasn't as interested in the characters as I have been in other books by this author. I did persevere untill the end and I quite enjoyed the last few chapters.

[Maria João (A Biblioteca da João) · Rating 5 out of 5]

9 de 10*

Gosto tanto quando um livro me agarra e arrebata às primeiras páginas! É uma sensação tão boa, começar a descobrir as personagens e de imediato querer saber mais e mais! Foi exactamente o que me aconteceu com este livro de Dilly Court. Não conhecia a autora mas, pela sinopse e capa, esperava um romance levezinho. Fui agradavelmente surpreendida por um romance bem estruturado e uma história muito interessante e completa.

Comentário completo em:
https://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.co...

[M João (Livros?gosto) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opinião em:



https://youtu.be/tzvVroB2b-Y

[poppie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought this rather long and drawn out and couldn't find myself attracted to any of the characters. I struggled to the end but not as good as other books I have read by this author.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book via Goodreads First Reads.

We enjoyed this book in the main, but the heroine could sometimes be quite irritating. So, it’s probably a three and a half to four star read.

We found it a bit slow in places, especially the boat scenes which slowed the pace of the story down quite a bit. The reunion scenes were quite poignant, and we enjoyed these particularly.

It’s a shame you have to buy the next book to find out what happens to the characters as we don’t think we would want to read the next book in the series.

[Carina Carvalho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Segundo livro que leio desta escritora e fiquei com a mesma sensação que no primeiro... falta qualquer coisa.
Vamos acompanhar a história de Essie, uma filha de um barqueiro que vive numa pobreza atroz com o pai que é negligente e bêbado.
A vida de Essie muda radicalmente quando conhece Raven.
Já no primeiro livro que li desta escritora achei que faltou paixão na descrição do romance da personagem principal e depois no fim tudo evolui de uma forma inesperada mas insípida.
Gostei de acompanhar as aventuras e viagens de Essie mas gostava que existisse mais romance....

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read a Dilly Court book for a wee while and I thourghly enjoyed this one. Dilly takes us as far as Australia in this story. I loved all the charachters. Although the ending is very satisfying, I'm not sure if this book is the first in a series. I hope it is !

[Tita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Após uma queda, o pai de Essie fez-se impossibilitado de trabalhar, e Essie decide ir fazendo pequenos trabalhos com o barco do pai para tentar arranjar dinheiro para sobreviverem. Num desses trabalhos, transporta um homem misterioso e que acaba depois por se alojar em sua casa e, graças à sua personalidade forte, Essie, vê-se envolvida numa aventura que a vai fazer viajar, primeiro até Itália e depois à Austrália, e que vai mudar a sua vida por completo.
Gostei muito de conhecer Essie, uma jovem, que em pleno século XIX, quer ter a sua independência e quer ser mais do que casar, ter filhos e cuidar da casa.
Gostei bastante da viagem até à Austrália e de ficarmos a conhecer um pouco melhor a vida das pessoas que moram lá, no entanto, confesso, que gostaria que a autora tivesse desenvolvido mais cenas neste cenário. Até para ter mais cenas com a Lady Alice, uma jovem de sociedade que se vê em situações completamente diferentes da sua vida.
Senti também que a adaptação de Essie à sua nova vida, foi muito rápida e esperava um pouco mais de dificuldades.
No entanto, foi um livro de leitura mais leve mas que me proporcionou bons momentos.

Vejam a minha opinião mais detalhada em vídeo, AQUI.

[Ali Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this as I do most Dilly Court books. A typical rags to riches tale. Liked the descriptions of the Thames areas of London slums but have to say it is quite a long book and it did drag on a little in parts but nonetheless a good read.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Can't wait to read the follow up The Summer Maiden to continue with Esther Chapmans life story from poor to rich not only in her life but in her marriage. All the hardships she had to deal with before she became rich. Five star rating from me Dilly Court

[Toast · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK - Mum and I had a challenge, read one of her books hence this. Actually, The first two thirds were good, informative, action packed even and not a ripped bodice in sight. But, the final third was heavy, laboured, almost another book on its own. Shame really as it let the rest down. It wasn't my usual fayre but it was worth the read. And it lead to some wonderful discussions over breakfast in the morning.
Toast

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always enjoyed books by Dilly Court and was really glad to find this new one. Always full of rougish and lovable characters, some, mainly the women a bit wet behind the ears and others with a bit of spirit about them. This was true of Essie Chapman. Growing up in the Limehouse slums, she has grafted and struggled for a living all her life, but then an unexpected journey to the other side of the world changed all that.
I found it enjoyable and very easy to read, I liked that she stayed true to her roots in the end. At times though, when she came home again, I found the plot lacking in anything real happening.
I did not like to read the sneak preview of the next in the series as it ruins the whole happy ending of this one. Pointless really.

[Lynda Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

a pleasant read.it made a nice change to read a book that didnt contain a lot of graphic sex,violence and bad language.

[Mrs Margaret Maher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to the 2nd book comes out in June can't wait

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this so much onto the next book in the series

[Brenda Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant read from dilly court.fantastic author onto book two.highly recommend.

[Laureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have come to really love Dilly Court’s stories on MP3 in my car. They are perfectly entertaining and if you miss a little bit due to concentration, it doesn’t really matter. This story covers the convict era and transportation to Australia of miscreants plus the hit and miss of the gold mining boom of the time. Most of the story is set in England though and is thoroughly entertaining.

[Justine Hodgson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first audio book!!!
A lovely story, so nice to listen to whilst doing other things.
The story kept me fully engaged with the characters, looking forward to book two in this series... I feel another audio book coming on 😊

[Joyce Niebank · Rating 5 out of 5]

The river maid

Lovely book couldn’t put it down. Looking forward to the next one. Continuation saga you have to pre order.
In

[Lee M Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

The publisher's description of this book made it sound interesting and exciting as an English-Australian historical fiction romance. Well to me it was neither very riveting nor very historical. Even the microscopic glimpses of the 1851 gold rush days of Ballarat and Bendigo, Victoria were brushed over so quickly that even I lost interest. It seemed to be missing everything that I anticipated in this book.
The romance was ever so SLOW to play out and it took 10 of the expected 12 hours of listening to get to the long expected pairings. It was so disappointing to hear Essie say that she looked into his eyes and knew she would want to be the mother of his children - when all along in the story she was driven for sea adventure and was sure that was not the life she wanted.
BTW - It didn't take her too long for our poor river maiden to become a priggish toff snob to the hired help !
Apparently, this was not the book I expected it to be. I see from other reviews that it has high ratings and an average of high ratings. These ratings and the publishers description drew me in. I will more carefully read the reviews to find if the previous readers are like minded to what I look for in historical fiction.
I will however look carefully at more books narrated by Annie Aldington. Her voice characterizations are the excitement that kept me moving through this book of high expectations.

[Angela Sandford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming little laid back read. Poor girl Essie, meets a stranger named Raven. By accident, she sails to Australia with him and his Cousin, brother and friend Sadie. Essie is gifted a large haul of gold, and returns to London a rich woman. Goes into business with her long lost brother and his friend....eventually getting engaged to her brothers friend.

The plot was interesting in the sense that I thought Essie would end up marrying Raven.....but this is just the first book in the series, and I wonder if they will meet again in the second book, due for release in the summer.....
This is my first Dilly Court book, so I’ve nothing to compare it to, but I did enjoy her style of writing. After just reading a few tense edge of the seat crime/thrillers, it’s nice to sit back and enjoy a comfortable/comforting book like this!

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essie Chapman is struggling to make ends meets by ferrying passengers up the Thames after her father's accident makes him unable to work.
One night she ferries a mysterious stranger and she thinks that's the end of it but unknowingly this man will change her life forever, linking both his and her family together in underhand dealings that could endanger them all but Essie is brave and as a consequence endures a spell in a penal colony in Australia.
Who IS this man and what is he hiding and how does he shape her future?
A wonderful start to a trilogy in the vein of Cookson and Cox that will appeal to any fan of the historical genre

[Abby Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads Giveaway Win.

Such a brilliant read, loved every second of the book and could barely put it down. A thrilling romantic read with dilemmas, set in an older time as well. Easy to follow and understand though. I can’t wait for the next installment.

[Trudie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've ve read a few of Dilly's books now and although I've enjoyed them they were a bit predictable but this is brilliant! wow! The story of Essie Chapman was an adventure and a half! really really enjoyed this and I am so looking forward to reading the next one!

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another 5* read from Dilly Court couldn't put this book down. Finished it while on holiday, and couldn't wait to get home and start book 2 of this triligy. Second book had me gripped right from start too. Can't recommend these books highly enough. Would have given it more stars if I could have.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. Not my favourite by this author, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

[Annemarie Farthing · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, lots happening and strong women
Favourite quote
'I smell tobaccoo smoke. The captain agrees with you, Jack.'

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a really great book. Wonderful interesting characters. I loved this book.