I’m closing the blog tour for The Runaway Girl by Elsie Mason. Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Orion Books for my gifted ebook to write my honest review.
1918. Fleeing from her past, Cathy Carmichael is new to the Sixteen Streets. She has nothing to her name, no plan and nowhere to go.
Cathy thinks she’s struck gold when she runs into Mrs Sturrocks, an elderly lady who offers her a room at her boarding house. Her son, Noel, might be strange and sulky, but he gives her a job at the Robin Hood pub and before long, Cathy is thriving as the new barmaid.
The Sixteen Streets was only meant to be a temporary stop for Cathy… but could it become home instead?
My Review
The first novel in a historical fiction saga trilogy. The Runaway Girl is set in the North East of 1918. The reader is introduced to Cathy. She arrives in Sixteen Streets, penniless, homeless and hopeless. She doesn’t know what’s next, that is, until she gets offered a room and a job. What she thought of as a temporary stop may just be able to be her permanent home.
The feeling of history around me as I read this novel was immense. Elsie Mason has the knack for creating a byegone era and placing the reader right there. The characters were just as I would expect. Not all perfect or likeable. They took over my imagination and ran riot as I turned the pages.
I felt for Cathy, arriving as she does. She triggered my maternal instinct, and I, as I read, could only hope things would turn out good for her. This alone gave the story a life of its own. I love historical sagas and have done since I read my first Catherine Cookson. Elsie Mason took me straight back to the years when I soaked up everything I could from Catherins Cooksons books. Being from Oldham, a mill town in the North West, I have always felt a connection with the history of the North East, (Oldham did have mines too, my family were miners and mill workers).
I finished this novel in record time, and just know I need to read more from Elsie! An immersive and very well researched story that is a nostalgic journey to the past.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Runaway-Girl-Sixteen-Streets-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0BY26P5TG
https://www.amazon.com/runaway-girl-sixteen-streets-trilogy-ebook/dp/B0BY26P5TG
Author Bio
Elsie Mason was born and grew up in South Shields on the real-life Sixteen Streets. Living beside the Tyne Docks inspired her story of the Farley family in The Biscuit Factory Girls series. She now lives in Manchester and writes full time.
Elsie has always wanted to tell the dramatic story of her own extended family in the form of a multi-generational saga. After years as a writer, The Biscuit Factory Girls series is the most personal and heartfelt tale that she has ever embarked on.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 