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Marston Trilogy #1
Salt of the Earth
Becky Taylor is born the last of seven children into a poor working class familyduring the heyday of the Industrial Revolution. Her mother is exhausted by poverty and child-bearing; her father has given the best years of his life to worrells salt works as a miner. But in spite of the hardships, Becky grows up in a family full of warmth, loyalty and determination. Spanning twenty, this is at once a family saga and a story of the indomitable working class spirit; it is also the story of a beautiful women who is determinated to rise about her origins and lead a better life. Her challenge isto achieve her dreams without losing the friends and family to whom she owes everything.
368 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
6 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Sally Spencer
80 books152 followersA pseudonym used by Alan Rustage.
Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men).
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah (see the Blog for what it was like to live through a revolution). He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and ten (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski.
His DI Sam Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the Inspector Paco Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
He now lives on Spain's Costa Blanca.
Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men).
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah (see the Blog for what it was like to live through a revolution). He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and ten (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski.
His DI Sam Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the Inspector Paco Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
He now lives on Spain's Costa Blanca.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 26, 2013
Very interesting its the first book in regard to salt trade I have read a light hearted read
September 17, 2021
I quite like Sally Spencer novels, she is a good writer.
Set in 1871 this book follows the life and times of Becky, the baby of the family of Ted and Mary Taylor. Set in an actual place in England where the writer hails from, this could be the story of any one of those families whose father worked in the mines and the mother brought up the children and some of them had the odd small paying part time job where they could scratch a few pennies to either pay bills or to save. Mary saved what she earned....but it wasn't much..
Becky Taylor always wanted to move up in the world to not repeat the family history of mining lives, which paid hand to mouth wages and the people barely surviving on the pittances. She wasn't ambitious at the cost of anyone else, she just wanted better than her family had always had.
A serious injury to Ted at the mines, suddenly created a world of pain for the family as suddenly they had to figure out a way to survive in the community without Ted being the breadwinner. Then Mary had an idea to turn their front room into a fish and chip shop, so hauled out all her savings and bought an industrial cooker to cook the fish and chips. Ted was furious and didn't want a bar of it, but Mary persevered.
As Becky grew up she watched her parents struggle for every penny, but Mary was the shrewd one and put away every spare coin they earned. She watched one of her brothers argue with their parents and go off to war, and another go off to another city and the family unit, disintegrate.
When she later married, she watched her husband's business literally sink before her eyes, but she'd seen how her mother had come up with an idea to save the family. Becky had inherited that talent too so set her heart on doing something to save her own husband from financial ruin.
Set in 1871 this book follows the life and times of Becky, the baby of the family of Ted and Mary Taylor. Set in an actual place in England where the writer hails from, this could be the story of any one of those families whose father worked in the mines and the mother brought up the children and some of them had the odd small paying part time job where they could scratch a few pennies to either pay bills or to save. Mary saved what she earned....but it wasn't much..
Becky Taylor always wanted to move up in the world to not repeat the family history of mining lives, which paid hand to mouth wages and the people barely surviving on the pittances. She wasn't ambitious at the cost of anyone else, she just wanted better than her family had always had.
A serious injury to Ted at the mines, suddenly created a world of pain for the family as suddenly they had to figure out a way to survive in the community without Ted being the breadwinner. Then Mary had an idea to turn their front room into a fish and chip shop, so hauled out all her savings and bought an industrial cooker to cook the fish and chips. Ted was furious and didn't want a bar of it, but Mary persevered.
As Becky grew up she watched her parents struggle for every penny, but Mary was the shrewd one and put away every spare coin they earned. She watched one of her brothers argue with their parents and go off to war, and another go off to another city and the family unit, disintegrate.
When she later married, she watched her husband's business literally sink before her eyes, but she'd seen how her mother had come up with an idea to save the family. Becky had inherited that talent too so set her heart on doing something to save her own husband from financial ruin.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews