A Crooked Mile: An emotional and uplifting saga set in Bolton from bestselling author Ruth Hamilton
By (Author) Ruth Hamilton
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Corgi Books
15th July 2010
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Narrative theme: Love and relationships
Family life fiction
Historical fiction
Narrative theme: Interior life
Narrative theme: Coming of age
Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss
823.914
Paperback
512
Width 110mm, Height 178mm, Spine 29mm
270g
A young girl's struggle for survival. In the shadow of the Althorpe mills, the Myrtle Street residents endure cramped and often verminous conditions. Joe Duffy, a Bolton tradesman, strives to lift his family out of the 'garden' streets. But as more children are born, Joe's wife Tess sinks deeper into the obsession that will be her undoing. When Tess screams her belief that the area is cursed, few people heed her ravings. She is ignored, even as the Myrtle Street tragedies become more frequent and begin to feature in local gossip. It is left to Megan, the third Duffy child - the one who felt she was unworthy and unloved because she had been born a girl - to end the curse. When she becomes embroiled in a web of deceit, Megan needs all her strength, talents, and wit in order to survive. But it is her capacity to give love that ensures her family's stability, the future of the Althorpe cotton mills, and the safekeeping of the Hall i' the Vale.
'Gritty, down-to-earth writing and strong female characters have become the trademarks of her writing' * Bookworld *
Ruth Hamilton became one of the north-west of England's most popular writers, her bestselling books include With Love From Ma Maguire, A Crooked Mile and Dorothy's War. Ruth Hamilton was born in Bolton, which is the setting for many of her novels, and spent most of her life in Lancashire before moving to Liverpool. She died in 2016.