Poor Law: Book 2 in the James Blakiston Series

James Blakiston #2

by R.J. Lynch

The second book in a series set in northeast England in the 1760s. R J Lynch's interest lies not with the aristocracy and "the ton" but with those at the bottom of the heap - the farm labourers and coal miners whose back-breaking work makes possible the comfortable lives of those who see themselves as their betters.

365 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2018

About the author

I was first published in 1982 and since then have published a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction. Historical detective fiction and historical romance are a new direction for me and I have adopted the pen name R J Lynch for a series of five books set in County Durham, England (with one in the revolutionary American colonies) in the 1760s. The first in the series, A Just and Upright Man, was published for Kindle by Mandrill Press on May 24th 2013. Sharon Wright: Butterfly and Zappa's Mam's a Slapper, both set in contemporary Britain, were published in 2014 as was my non-fiction book, The International Sales Handbook.

Reviews

[Cindy Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, excellent!

This 18th century story of an English farming community drained with murder a well written and hard to put down just as the first book of the series.

The unbelievable hardships of life when who you were born to and how much money you had determined your social status is hard to imagine by today's standards. The Poor Law was horrendous in its employment of determination to do so very little for those in need. It's even harder to imagine whole families being starved to death. The use of religion to scapegoat and shame the dispossessed and downtrodden is a fact based concept then and now. Shameful!

I have to say the writing here is such that I feel for the characters as I've gotten to know them. Their descriptions and dialogue are well done. I laughed often and felt, too, the sadness of loss and the desperation of the common man.

The murder investigation is interesting, but, again, there are several very interesting side stories. The romance between James and Kate is one of those and very sweet.

I'm enjoying the series and plan to continue on while adding my high recommendation.

[Jan L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully Different

I read the two books in this series back to back. The writing style is really different in a good way. I grew to really care about these characters. The setting is interesting. It's as if one is an unseen observer. Suspense and wisdom are included. It's not cotton candy storytelling. I hope there are many more books to come. I've seen the movies Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, etc. but have never read the books. I might do so now.

[Patricia A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I really enjoyed the two Blakiston novels. I cannnot wait for the third. I found them very absorbing and enlightening of the poor in the UK in this era. Thank you so much for continuing to write this saga. Hope the third will not be the end of it. I will tell my friends about your books. Thank you .

[Vivian J Suarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

I really enjoyed reading both books. The characters are memorable well developed with a story line the makes it hard to stop reading

[Erin]

Find out more about Poor Law and the James Blakiston Series at: https://historicalfictionreader.blogs...