Wrong Side of Happiness

by Tania Crosse

Overview

A harrowing and engrossing saga set in nineteenth-century Devon - It is 1887, and times are lean. When West Country farm labourer Emmanuel Ladycott and his dairymaid daughter, Tresca, lose their jobs, they head for Tavistock, where Emmanuel hopes to join the hundreds of navvies working on the new railway line. Tresca is determined to forge a new life among the overcrowding and poverty of Bannawell Street. But when Emmanuel loses this new job, Tresca is left on the brink of despair. Will she find the strength to fight for her future?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780101453
Publisher:	Severn House Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	516 KB

Editorial Reviews

Crosse, a heavy hitter? No doubt. Her fourth historical-fiction title from Severn House starts out swinging, literally, when dairymaid Tresca delivers a stunning right hook to a would-be thief in the market at Tavistock, a stark, compellingly drawn place of hard times for her and Emmanual, her alcoholic father. Other farm workers jam the English West Country town, which is itself a major character, seeking railroad jobs and new beginnings, but Tresca's hopes founder in the face of poverty's harsh realities. Crosse's Devon dialect—"You means it were comin', like?"—is vivid and easily understood within a story that takes daughter and father to rock bottom, approaching the dreaded workhouse "sitting at the top of the hill like a great vulture on its nest, waiting for its prey." Can unexpected help be trusted when Tresca has lost all hope? A dramatically pleasurable read for Crosse's growing fan base, and a novel to recommend to new readers.

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