Mary's Child [Paperback]

Celia A. Leaman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2005

After being incarcerated in a workhouse following the death of her mother, Mary Jay is apprenticed out to a farm on Dartmoor. Mary is happy, even though the wife of her employer despises her. Even this she could survive, but her life is shattered by the same man who brought her mother down many years before. Shamed and frightened, she runs away from the farm. Fortunately, someone takes her in until her baby is born.
 

Mary's daughter, Kitty, grows up in similar circumstances to her mother--not in a workhouse, but with a father who hates her. Her life is sometimes a misery, but Kitty is a different kettle of fish to her mother; less meek and mild, and this courage will see her through shocking circumstances, avenge her poor mother, and then take her rightful place in society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mary's Child" is a moving, even hopeful, book. I cannot recommend it highly enough. --Jane Bowers, Romance Reviews Today.

"Mary's Child" is chock full of characters, all deftly developed ... a legendary epic. --Kathy Kehrli, Inscriptions Magazine

I heartily recommend "Mary's Child." --Cindy Penn, Senior Editor, Wordweaving.

From the Author

Around 1860, on Dartmoor in England, men working on the road unearthed what they thought were the remains of a pony, but the bones were later discovered to be of a young woman. One of the road mender's wives recalled that it was the grave of a young girl called Mary Jay, who had hanged herself at a local farm after being crossed in love. In those days, suicides were buried at cross roads so that if they came back to haunt the living, their souls would be confused. I grew up quite near Jay's Grave, which I understood to be haunted. Indeed, the idea of Mary's tortured soul haunted me, and that is why I wrote Mary's Child, which has a hopeful ending, in the hope that she might go to rest at last.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Twilight Times Books (June 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933353112
• ISBN-13: 978-1933353111
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,082,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Celia grew up in England in a tiny village on the edge of Dartmoor. It is from this part of her life that she draws for her Dartmoor Series novels, Mary's Child, and Past Present 1: Web of Lies. Past Present II: Time Returned is currently a work of progress, as is The Bowerman, a story set in the time of the English Civil War, and based on the legend that surrounds Bowerman's Nose, a tumble of giant boulders, on Dartmoor. When Mary's Child was first released it was a Frankfurt eBook Award and a Reviewers Choice Award nominee.

After immigrating to Canada, Celia had short stories published in magazines in the UK, Canada, the United States and South Africa. She currently has three short story collections, Island Stories, Journeys, and Who is Margaret? What is She? published with Twilight Times Books.

Celia's other novels include Unraveled, a lighthearted mainstream novel with a touch of fantasy and New Age humor, and the Winnowed Woman, a collection of essays, poems and journal entries that received a WordWeaving Award for Excellence.

Celia's latest release is a non-fiction self-published ebook, Writing up a Storm, in which she addresses many of the hurdles facing new writers. Information can be found on her website www.devonshirebabe.com.