When Day Is Done

Deerness #1

by Elizabeth Gill

When Dryden's wife dies after a long illness she leaves him with their beloved son, Tommy, and free - in theory - to pursue his true love. But Vinia is married to Dryden's employer, Joe, manager of the Black Prince coal pit in County Durham, and Joe will always stand between them. Dryden has gipsy blood running through his veins, and he is an intensely passionate man. When Joe's jealousy threatens to drive a permanent rift between the two men, Dryden turns elsewhere for comfort - into the arms of the beautiful daughter of a prosperous local factory-owner, the fiery and independent Roberta Grant.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

https://www.facebook.com/Elizabeth-Gi...

http://elizabethgill.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth, formerly a journalist and house journal editor, has a daughter Katy and lives in Durham City. She began writing at four and had a poem published at twelve and a short story accepted at age twenty. Her first book was published when she was thirty and subsequently has had a total of 40 novels published.

Reviews

[Booklover BEV · Rating 5 out of 5]

first in the Deerness series, the book is set in Durham the year 1901 Vinia and Joe Forster live in stanley house and joe offers friend Dryden Cameron a job as pit manager after he becomes widowed bring up his son tommy who later at eighteen years old killed in france during the war. joe is concerned for Dryden he would be better getting married and having more bairns. but the love Dryden and Vinia share couldn't make things any easier. this is a fascinating read full of love as you read, the heart and soul is showing through from the author as you read. so many mixed emotions are coming from the characters. i loved reading every bit

[Tracey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why this book is called 'The Coal Miner's Wife', at the very start of the book Dryden's wife dies, he was a coal miner but was promoted to pit manager after her death. He does not re marry during the story so the title is a mystery to me!
The story was okay, centering on Dryden, Joe the pit owner, Vinia, his wife and also Bobby and Forbes. It's set during world war one around the Durham area. Sorry just not a good read for me.

[Elizabeth Fellows · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Coal Miners Wife

This story commences in 1901 through to the end of WW1, 1918. It takes place in Durham in a mining town in England, amongst some very hardworking and hard living miners and their lifestyle that was so different and difficult with their prejudices and beliefs of the working class.
Dryden Cameron was part gypsy, and many of the townsfolk had preconceived ideas and prejudices towards him. Folks in those days had very strong beliefs about working class people, and believed that the wealthy folks were superior and were allowed to do whatever they wanted. Dryden raised his son on his own after his wife died. When Dryden’s son left home to join the gypsies, he was despondent. He missed his son tremendously, felt hopeless, as did his good friends who cared for the boy. Unbeknownst to Him his son signed up for the war. What happens causes a whole sequence of events.
The townsfolk, rich or poor all had tremendous change to deal with during the war. Fascinating book.

[Heather Copping · Rating 4 out of 5]

1901 in County Durham and a young woman called Vinia is torn between her husband Joe, who is the owner of the pit and Dryden, a man with issues, having just lost his wife to cancer and then his son in the trenches in WW1. Dryden seems to have lost the will to live and very soon another person arrives on the scene, Roberta (Bobbie) who is the daughter of the owner of a factory, which makes uniforms, and a couple of mills. Her brother Charles is "missing/believed killed". This is an interesting mix of people, all connected yet somehow not. Who will love whom? In the midst of war passions and romance run strong, especially in the tight knit mining village community. Who will return from the war? Is Charles alive?
This is the first book that I have read by Elizabeth Gill but I will certainly be looking out for more by her. This is a book full of historical romance and it's just right for those times when you need a piece of romance in your life.

[Rebecca Haslam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not usually a fan of these books but my Grandma offered me a few as I'd run out of reading material. I managed to finish this book quickly mostly because I wanted to move on to something else, and if you asked me to recall the story, even in brief, I honestly couldn't as I found it had nothing to particularly hold my attention.

[lilah Mila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually thought I enjoyed it and wanted to read on but the ending is so rushed and it’s just cut-off.Also I wished the book mainly focused on Vinia instead of Bobbie.

[Alison Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mystery till the end.

Breast to read about the mans side of the story. Breast read couldn't put the book down. Gonna start the follow up.