Anna Jacobs

The Pride of Lancashire by Anna Jacobs is the first book in a series that features the Preston family. The Prestons are a working class family with a drunkard for a father and a mother who is totally incompetent and so relies upon her eldest daughter, Carrie, to feed and clothe the ten children. As the story of this family unfolds the reader also learns much about nineteenth century lower class life styles with their reliance upon a mill owner for housing, food and even proper drinking show more water.

Carrie’s life is hard but she meets a young man with ambitions. He plans to open one of the new music halls that are currently sweeping the country. Unfortunately the rich mill owner has his eye on the property that has been set aside for the music hall and he will do anything to ensure he gains control of it.

With romance, history and plenty of action, this was an exciting escape from reality. The author provides a good story that has the reader cheering on the underdogs and hoping to see the villain of the piece brought down. And although we have a somewhat happy ending, this is only the first book, so I expect there will be plenty of setbacks and, hopefully, advances in the Preston’s future. show less

Evoking the language, location and people of Lancashire, Anna Jacobs’ Salem Street takes readers to a time when mills were opening, cheap lodging was proliferating across once green valleys providing homes for workers, and a woman’s place was to bear children. Having grown up around Lancashire accents, I particularly appreciated how quickly I heard the voices of my youth in the dialog—easy to read and understand, yet beautifully portraying accent and dialect. The author spares no show more feelings with her depiction of difficult lives, the divide between rich and poor, and the ease with which a man can get away with cruelty. But this isn’t a story of bad men and good women. Women have a cruelty all their own, and both men and women can work for good or for evil. The Methodist church begins to make inroads in a mill town. A trained doctor begins to make a difference in the health of a neighborhood. And the divide between North and South is already beginning to take effect.

With pleasing characters, a strong female protagonist, and well-researched, convincing history, this novel is first in a series, a thoroughly enjoyable and enthralling tale on its own, and a great introduction the author, the area, and the lives of mill workers and women at home or in service.

Disclosure: I borrowed it from my Mum show less

This novel tells the story of four sisters who live in Lancashire with their father. Although they work in the cotton mill, they are quite educated because their father is a lover of education and knowledge, which is also the reason why they all have Greek names. They lead a simple, but content life and are a very close-knit family. However, when the cotton famine hits, caused by the Civil War in the US, they become very poor. After several more fateful blows, the sisters go to Western show more Australia and start new lives there.

It was very interesting to learn about the cotton famine which I had never heard about before. I also enjoyed the descriptions of Western Australia and the early days of that colony. What really got on my nerves after some time, though, was that the sisters are so utterly good, like saints, while the antagonists are so absolutely bad, like cardboard characters. It all is so saccharine that the story became boring to me after a while and I had to force myself to go on, which is why it took me very long to finish this. I will not go on with the series because I am simply not interested in these characters anymore. show less

Bright Day Dawning by Anna Jacobs is the third book in her Preston Family series. This book picks up immediately after the last book, and with only one more book in the series, a number of story lines were finished with this volume.

Carrie and Eli are rebuilding their music hall which was burnt down at the end of the last book but their inexperience in business finds them hiring a con-man instead of a respectable architect. We also follow the misadventures of another young couple as Gwynna show more & Lucas must fight to escape the clutches of an evil land-owner who is trying to control Lucas and punish Gwynna for her past. We also follow the story of Maria, the widow of Athol Stott and see her beginning to reclaim her life.

While the plot-lines follow a familiar path of evil men doing nasty things to good people, I still enjoyed the read. There is a comfort in these books, knowing that although bad things are going to happen, you can rely on good triumphing in the end. Although offering nothing particularly new or different, Bright Day Dawning was a comfortable escape read. show less