In the Yorkshire Dales, in 1887, a family uses artful schemes to enslave the innocent spinster sister, but Tizzie yearns to be free.
Families support and aid each other don’t they? Especially in the Yorkshire Dales, in 1887. Life can be hard but gentle, kindly Tizzie has been a loving help for her brother, Jack, his wife, Maggie, and their three sons & a daughter, Agnes. She is happy to work herself to skin and bones as a dairymaid for them. Tizzie’s one dream is to see that young Agnes will not suffer her spinster fate but it is sharp young Agnes who helps Tizzie suspect, see and then uncover Jack and Maggie's treachery. Now she knows what has been done to her Tizzie is determined to set Agnes free. With only her wits to guide her, Tizzie attempts to right years of wrongs and gain Agnes an education and a life.
Excerpt
Catching Agnes were easy, finding her on her own proved difficult. All the family crowded the large table at the far end of the long farmhouse kitchen. Tizzie mentally pinched herself. She’d forgotten that school didn’t start until next week. The boys had been out helping their Da check the in-lamb ewes and wanted their breakfasts. Jack sat at table waiting to be served. Agnes helped her mother, carrying bowls of porridge to the table as Maggie dished up from the porridge pot, ladling generous amounts into each bowl. She allocated cream and sugar with a careful hand, all the while her eye on the frying pan, where thick slices of bacon popped and sizzled. Tizzie waited by the range, her hands and feet thawing, twinge by tingling twinge.
Bert, mindful of his duties as first born, poked his little brother. “Move along, young Mike, Auntie Tiz is here.” Mike sniffed, lifted another spoonful to his mouth. A stronger nudge from both his brothers got him moving, and the boys made space for her, hastily shifting their chairs. John-Jack nodded hello, his mouth bulging. Bert moved round, put Tizzie’s chair next to his Da. No, this weren’t the time to ask Agnes about that letter. Tizzie settled on the chair beside her brother.
Professional Reviews
Tizzie
One of the most striking features of this book is its utter and complete mastery of the rural Yorkshire dialect. From the first paragraph onward, Tizzie captures the speaking rhythms and vocabulary of 19th-century Yorkshire farmers with amazing fidelity and precision. I was immediately immersed in the concerns and thought patterns of the main character, Tizzie Cawthra, simply by virtue of her poetic and quaint rural dialect.
Tizzie
It's not a spoiler to say it's not clear through most of the book who you should "dislike" most -- Jack or Maggie (Tizzie's brother and sister-in-law). Their youngest son is a real wonder, too.
How can any mother lie, and cheat one child in favor of 3 others! It is just beyond imagining such callousness! They never did love her. I wonder if she really loved the 3 boys!
Little Agnes (age 9), very innocently opens Tizzies eyes to what her brother and sister-in-law have been doing to her for years. She sees the same thing happening the bright little girl. Agnes' parents would rather do without things they need rather than see the girl improve her position in any way.
What happens to the Aunt and Niece is worse than slavery. It's not the law, it's done with lying, stealing, cheating, emotional and physical abuse.
The one drawback in the book is there is not enough coverage of the inquest at the end of the book. I would like to have seen more of that but the results are given. And those results are almost poetic justice!
The character development is just fantastic. You really feel you know the characters (both the good and the bad) and just want to know what happens next. Once you get the book really started and get to learn who Tizzie and Agnes are, you can't put the book down. You find yourself rooting for them constantly. You want to know what Maggie is up to next and how her plans are foiled every time it's really important.
It's just too bad that such things as child abuse was just "accepted" and not talked about back in 1887!
Read this book. Cry at the end! Enjoy the success of Tizzie's plans for Agnes. Just note that once you get started, you'll have trouble putting it down!
Tizzie
It took me a while to get into this novel - maybe because of the era, maybe because of the careful reconstruction of the dialect, and maybe because the main character - Tizzie - is so much a product of her time: shy, respectful, naive, knowing her own place. Not use to reading about women characters like that. However, I became gripped by the deepening desperation of Tizzie in her determination to rescue Agnes from the claws of her family. The descriptions of rural life in the late 19th century captured my imagination. The characters were mainly believable - including Maggie, the Mam, and her attitude towards women and girls. Even 30 years later my own mother experienced the same prejudice. Well worth the persistence for a glimpse into the relationships of subsistence rural life in England of the time. Well researched and constructed.
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