Based on a true story of a singer murdered on Christmas Eve, Burton has created a female Victorian journalist to explore her background. She is good at creating strong women who can handle themselves in a man’s world.
Josephine is one of the very few female journalists in Victorian England – not a job for a respectable young woman. Her chosen path is far from easy but she's determined and courageous.
Harriet is content to drift from one opportunity to another, from man to man, living by her singing, resorting to prostitution when times get tough. It's a turbulent, unpredictable life – a way of life which ultimately leads to her untimely end.
Josephine is horrified and yet fascinated by the case. If circumstances had been different, Harriet's fate could have been her own. The two women are close in age, their families not so very different. What made one life turn out this way?
Betty Burton has based this novel on a real-life tragedy and turns her storytelling talents to exploring the background. She writes of what it means to be a woman in a man's world – be it the ultimate victim with no control or the one who dares to try to break the mould.
'Betty Burton constructs the world from the female point of view – carefully considered, subtle and observant'. Elizabeth Buchan, Sunday Times
Author
About Betty Burton
Betty Burton is the author of JUDE, JAEN, WOMEN OF NO ACCOUNT, HARD LOVES, EASY RICHES and GOODBYE PICCADILLY as well as the acclaimed collection of short stories WOMEN ARE BLOODY MARVELLOUS! She has written for both television and radio, and won the Chichester Festival Theatre Award.
Her books are constantly praised for their strong women characters; women with hopes, passions, and an indomitable love of life. She also has a reputation as a very ‘English’ writer, with a powerful sense of English rural and town life underlying all her novels.