Review: A lovely historical piece
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2013
A lovely historical piece about two people lost in their own way finding their place in the world and with each other. In Manchester the temperatures rise as there is talk of equal rights for the workers man and woman alike. The workers want a peaceful gathering and our meeting together legally, following the order of the law. But the factory owners are scared and seeing visions of the uprising in France years before. Nash Quinn the second son left for the Navy and when he returned he didn't go home he went to Manchester to make something of himself. Now years later he is a successful merchant who can see both side of the argument and want what's fair for his workers and understands they want a peaceful gathering  even thought all the other owners don't believe it and are fighting him.Madeline Wetherby has been an orphan since her families death when she was four. Since then she has been at a girls school being trained to be the wife of the Earl. But upon the death of the Old Earl who paid for her schooling and treated her lie a daughter, she finds herself alone and without a Earl to marry since the new Earl who has been her intended for most of her life rejected her and burned her proof to her claim. Her only living relative an Uncle who would rather treat her as a whore then a Niece who then drops the bomb that she is not the true daughter of the only parents she knew, but to working class people she may never meet.Nash is instantly taken with Maddy and feels for her plinth and does the only right thing he can think of, he marries her. Marrying her instead of his brother he claims still fulfills the terms met with their father. Maddy goes from being the intended wife of an Earl to the wife of a Merchant, from castle to small structured and compartmentalized bachelor house. Maddy needs to work she feel useless and unneeded if she's not. Nash has her work the books for his company and for a while things are happy even though they have not been physically intimate, Nash is will to wait until his wife is comfortable. Trouble with the happy couple starts when Nash can't understand why Maddy has to bath everyday (despite being in the Navy he's scared of water, or because of it) After finally making love the first time Nash is upset because Maddy went to bath her self right after. Little does he know at this point the truama Maddy went threw as a child with her uncle until the old Earl took her away.On top of Maddy and Nash's uncertain feeling for each other the trouble with the workers is growing and gaining momentum. When Maddy discovers her birth father and a sister still live in Manchester and are part of the Workers Reform it drives a wedge deeper between her and Nash. Trying to gain favor with her sister and her father Maddy joins them in their march for reform. It all seems over when Nash gives her the ultimatum me or the reformers.A wonderful and emotionally charged story written by a talented author. Nicky Penttila works magic with works as she takes you from the magistrates and the factory owners to the workers reform and the peaceful march that turned into Peterloo. A Romance tied in with history beautifully.more of my reviews at hannahdabink.wordpress.com