Keeper of my Heart (Greenwood Kingdom Series Book 1)

Keeper of my Heart

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I've not had the opportunity to read anything from her before this but I will be making sure that is corrected very shortly. All in all, I really enjoyed this novel. I loved how you are just dropped into the middle of an ongoing story and it takes you a few chapters to figure out what in the world is going on.

Starting a novel that way definitely kept me intrigued and wondering what would happen next. The way that Greenwood developed the characters was pretty perfect. I wouldn't have changed one thing. The brooding way about Will was endearing and you felt nothing but compassion for this poor man. I think that some of my favorite parts were when Will was stumbling all over himself trying to say and do the right thing and the way that Anna interacted with him was EXACTLY what I was wanting when I met these two characters. There weren't any lags in the story or any need to skip long-winded sections.

I actually found myself rereading certain passages because I just liked the way things were worded and while I couldn't get back that first-read magic, these sections still made me smile or laugh. I'll be picking up another novel by this author and she's been put on my list of must-read authors.

I'm excited to see how she will continue the story with other characters. Feb 13, Kimia Safavi rated it it was amazing. The story and characters were engaging and I couldn't put the book down. I am looking forward to read more books by this author. Thank you Emily Greenwood. Nov 25, Adria Musings and Reviews rated it it was ok Shelves: All conclusions are my own responsibility and I was not compensated for this review. A scandalous book of nude sketches is basically setting the ton on its ears but the identity of the woman in those sketches is a mystery to everyone except t Originally posted on Adria's Musings and Reviews Blog post MAY have additional content such as playlists, interviews, giveaways, etc.

A scandalous book of nude sketches is basically setting the ton on its ears but the identity of the woman in those sketches is a mystery to everyone except two men who are desperately looking everywhere to find her.

Spending so much time together forces Will and Anna to confront their individual demons and to learn to depend on another person for comfort. Overall reaction to the story? I felt that the plot needed more depth, and the characters needed more development. Some of the personality traits of both characters were too convenient to the story and made it a touch unbelievable. I found the conflict of the nude sketches to be an interesting one but the explanation of how Anna was watched too unbelievable. To me reading this book felt like I was only touching the surface of a bigger and better story.

If the author had spent more time developing everything then this would have been a winner of a story. Describe the hero in five words: Did you like him? Will is the type of character that breaks your heart and makes you root for him as he finds love with the heroine. I do think with some more fleshing out Will would have made a dashing, tragic figure of a man who lost someone he loved. Describe the heroine in five words: Did you like her?

For the most part yes. Anna was raised by a widower father and with mostly her brothers for company. I will say that I found some aspects of her personality a bit too modern and unbelievable but I guess the author felt they were necessary to further the plot. Will and Anna made a good couple and they balanced each other out, Will was steady and serious while Anna was the one with the blunt way of speaking and a rebel at heart.

I do think their love was too instant and needed more development in order to be believable and less fluffy but on the surface they were a good couple. How about that supporting cast? Click It or Skip It? Now if her follow up books are more developed and grounded in the time that they take place then she would easily be a force to be reckoned with. The possibility is there, it just needs a bit of polishing.

Jun 25, Tin rated it liked it Shelves: I received this ARC through Netgalley. Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Emily Greenwood for the opportunity. Yes, this is an honest review. Her trust and privacy betrayed, Anna is now hiding under a different name and identity, hoping to shake off the men who are pursuing her. The Beautiful One is a painting of Anna, that she had neither willingly posed for or known about -- until it was presented to Disclosure: The Beautiful One is a painting of Anna, that she had neither willingly posed for or known about -- until it was presented to her by the Marquess of Henshaw, who plans to showcase the painting and reveal Anna's identity during his annual ball.

But the painting is not complete, and Henshaw wants Anna back. Anna has hidden herself safely at Rosewood, a finishing school and she'd been content with her life -- until she was tasked to accompany a student back to her guardian. Anna had hoped to deliver the student and then quickly return to Rosewood, but the situation proves to be more complicated: Lizzie is his late wife's niece, and the daughter of Will's best friend.

He had thought he could keep the girl at arms length by sending her away to school and paying for her bills, but Lizzy has a different plan for herself. Unhappy with Rosewood, she planned a rendezvous with a gentleman, knowing that she would be caught and then expelled. She had hoped her uncle would allow her to stay with him -- but his response wasn't what she had expected.

Anna has to serve as mediator between uncle and niece, and finds herself getting slowly and more deeply involved with both her ward, and her ward's guardian. With the unveiling of The Beautiful One drawing ever closer, Anna realises just how much she stands to lose if she doesn't act quickly. My favourite aspect of this book is that Emily Greenwood decided to take a different approach to her heroine's problem -- indirectly. I think it added to the suspensefulness of the story: When would Will discover Anna's true identity?

When would The Beautiful One be unveiled? What will happen next? In the meantime, life went on. Emily Greenwood weaves a complex domestic drama: Lizzie is Will's niece by marriage. It's difficult for Will to have Lizzie in his house, a constant reminder of his beloved wife. Will can't help his attraction and fascination for Anna, and vice versa. Anna tries to maintain a respectful distance between her and Will, because of her secret and out of respect for Will's late wife, who is portrayed as a paragon.

Then Will's stepmother, Judith, and Will's brother, Tommy, enter the picture. I thought the author was planning to pursue a secondary love story between Tommy and Lizzie, because their initial meeting had sparks -- but it doesn't seem to be the case. Which leads me to one of the few problems in the story: This scene scream for a confrontation between Lizzie and Tommy, but it never happens.

There is a resolution to this particular issue, but it seemed vague -- I'm not sure if there was an apology, but I'm certain there was no forgiveness. I don't know if this is something the author plans to develop in future stories, but this felt a bit lacking in this particular story. Lizzie confused me, actually. And I think I'm meant to be confused. She is 17, and an orphan. Her closest living relative is a man who doesn't want her, so I understand her outrageous behaviour, but there doesn't seem to be anything consistent about her. Except her desire to go back to Malta.

Does she have hidden depths, and only pretending to be vapid and shallow? What is it that she truly wishes to happen? I ask these questions because I wondered about her behaviour in some chapters of the book. When she dressed and acted seductively. When, in anger, she broke that part of one of Will's statues. We know there's brokenness within her, but I'm trying to figure out what is her motivation. With the generous allowance she began receiving from her uncle, she'd buried her grief under mounds of pretty clothes, the kinds of things a poor churchman's daughter would never have owned.

And she'd set herself learning every bit of the reviled deportment. The girls at Rosewood didn't laugh at her anymore, but by then she hadn't wanted their shallow friendship. I loved, loved, loved their initial meeting and was expecting the sort of sparky chemistry you see when grumpy meets sassy. I started wondering about Will during their second encounter -- Will isn't really a hero I could sympathise with.

I was very surprised when he propositioned Anna and believed she could be "bought" if the price was right. I could not shake the feeling that he never saw Anna as anything more than But he was unmoored from that man now. He reached up and put his palm against her cheek. Dear God, the soft warmth of a woman's skin, the give of her smooth flesh.

He read mutiny in her eyes as she pushed his hand away.

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You have the look of someone who would put a hundred pounds to good use. I have to say that one aspect of Will that I really appreciated was his sense of responsibility to his family. He maintained a good relationship with his brother and their cousins, which is a contrast to Anna's own relationship with her father. It's interesting to see how Anna never saw herself as beautiful -- her father was more interested in Anna's brain than her physical appearance, and Anna never had to worry or fuss about herself.

I loved how she slowly came to the realisation of her full value -- not just her mind her father. Not just her face and body the Marquess of Henshaw. But her full being. Will is partly responsible for this, but I think Will's stepmother, Judith, and Lizzy also contributed to her awakening. Her gown really did look like boiled dust. And for the first time, she cared. Did I like the book? While it wasn't without flaws, I could see the author's intentions and the story was resolved well.

Anna, especially, was an interesting heroine and, perhaps, the greatest asset of this story. Of all the characters, hers was the most fully formed and most understandable. Aug 23, Tasha rated it really liked it. This is book one of the Scandalous sisters series. It starts off with Anna Black having to leave her home because some peeping tom has been spying on her while she was bathing and drawing pictures of her to sale.

She changes her name and flees the area only to end up broke in a all girl's school. She is tasked with seeing one of the pupils home so off she goes to meet Viscount Halifax. Where neither she nor the girl is received well. She throws a fit and the book begins. Great This is book one of the Scandalous sisters series.

Great little piece of historical fun. Sep 24, Eileen Dandashi rated it really liked it. This begins a new series which appears to be just as fun. Greenwood weaves lovely Regencies with very enticing, unusual plots, a bit out of the ordinary. She further entertains with sizzling love between hero and heroine enough, mind you, to curl your toes. She loved to draw and her wish was someday to have a school to teach drawing. Anna was allowed to roam freely with her brother since her father was so absorbed in his own work. Anna long fended for herself.

She possessed an inner strength, sensitivity, kind heart, direct and frank speech with a tongue which spoke her thoughts readily. Her father had an apprentice, a Mr. Rawlins, who saw the inner beauty and grace the willowy Anna possessed, even though she dressed very shabbily.

He captured her beauty in several nude drawings, secretly spying on her through a peep-hole into her bedroom. Rawlins no longer was employed. He sold them to Marquess of Henshaw. The marquees knew if he had an additional painting of her posed nude with him, he would be famous. He was a man craving attention by the ton. Her plan was to make enough money for a journey to live with her aunt. She saw her ruin in those drawings.

Fate had a kinder destiny for her. Elizabeth Tarrington, a rather precocious and devious child acted improperly one too many times and was sent home to her guardian, Viscount, Will Halifax, Lord Grandville. They asked Anna to chaperone her to his estate and return to the school. But Lord Grandville was not the kind man Elizabeth remembered years before. Widowed a year, his heart was torn, his spirit in tatters and he was one miserable creature whose temper simmered, ready to explode if provoked.

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He had dismissed society, no social niceties and remained at Stillwell doing manual work. This was a great scene with spitting words from Lord Grandville ending in propositioning her, just out of the blue. The house is full of guests where previously there were none. Lord Granville detests his stepmother. Now, dare he face his demons? Can Anna escape her ruination? Will Elizabeth find peace at Stillwell? Jun 01, Kiltsandswords rated it really liked it. The ton is buzzing about The Beautiful One, a striking figure in a scandalous book of nude sketches.

Only two men know the true identity of The Beautiful One, and they are scouring the countryside, determined to find her. Her tomboy's heart and impertinent tongue serve her well when she meets the most brooding viscount ever to darken a drawing room. Will Halifax, Viscount Grandville, has his reasons for pushing people away, and when his tempestuous teenaged ward arrives on his doorstep, he presses Anna to take on her care. As Anna begins to melt the Viscount's frozen heart, she knows the more she loves, the more she has to lose. One of my favourite tropes is the runaway who is hiding a secret.

Anna is certainly hiding a whopper in this story. The story of the scandalous sketches is the motive for Anna to be searching for a hiding place in England from the contemptible men who hunt her, but it is only a part of this story. This book revolves around the love connection between Anna and Will. Through circumstances, Anna finds herself at Stillwell, a beautiful country estate. The Viscount is difficult. Slowly Will begins to transform from a grief stricken shell of a man to a man who has come alive again.

What I liked about this book was the dance between Anna and Will. She is not afraid to challenge him and does so repeatedly. Is there a better way to catch the attention of a reluctant man? Not that Anna is trying to catch his attention for herself. She wants him to take responsibility for his ward and be the man she knows is buried under the grief. I always enjoy books where the lead characters frustrate, excite and challenge each other. This book definitely has my favourite elements. Anna and Will are really well developed characters. They helped each other deal with the problems before them, so that when they final got together, it felt natural.

The author writes love scenes really well. They are titillating and creative. The author makes you see the characters through a beautiful lens. The secondary characters in this story are great! The ward and the stepmother not only create drama that forces the lead characters into action, but they show their humanity. The author is really skilled at using these characters as a method of provoking the characters. Plus, they added moments of great humour. This story was a lovely story to read. One thing I really liked about it was that Anna was such a strong character.

The author has created a wonderful plot that is entertaining and emotional. Apr 30, Book Gannet rated it really liked it Shelves: Despite the constant use of Americanisms littered throughout and the fact that the dece 3. I know it has a lot to do with what she overheard Tommy say, but no one even asks her about it. Which leads onto the main problem I had with this book — the villains. What was done to Anna is a horrible invasion of privacy. It removed all the tension from that side of things from me and left me annoyed whenever that side of the plot raised its head.

The rest of the book, however, I thoroughly enjoyed. I liked Will underneath all his gruff and bluster and felt a bit sorry that everyone was always bothering him. Despite the instant attraction on both sides, the romance has a nice steady pace to it, heating gradually up to some surprisingly romantic moments. The characters are interesting, the setting is lovely and the romance is enjoyable. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Anna Black — Governess, seamstress, and artist. She is running from impending scandal, having been made the unknowing model for a book of drawings of a lovely nude woman.

The book is called The Beautiful One. Wants nothin Cast of Characters: Wants nothing to do with his ward or her lovely companion. The stage is set. The Viscount's home has been invaded by two women that refuse to leave. Will is bound and determined that Lizzie does not belong in his house, but as long as she is there, Anna must stay as her governess. For Anna and Lizzie, one month is the predetermined maximum length of their stay.

By the end of the month, Lizzie will have a new school and Anna will be on her way to her Aunt's house. The Viscount will have the mansion to himself again. Before she leaves, Anna plans to make sure the Viscount realizes his familiar responsibility is more than just duty. After all, Lizzie is the daughter of his dear friend.

And Lizzie will use all her youthful powers of persuasion to endear herself to her uncle. Both Anna and Lizzie resolve to thwart Will's plans. There is some instant physical attraction between Will and Anna. Attraction that is intensified when Will experiences Anna's impertinent manner and her disinclination to back down from a Viscount.

Anna's affection toward Will grows as she learns more about him. What she learns reveals a heart that the dour Viscount would endeavor to keep buried. In the meantime, the threat of The Beautiful One — the possibility of being exposed — looms over Anna's head. The threat to Anna and anyone that is associated with her is one that must be avoided at all costs. There is chemistry between Anna and Will. That much is certain. It is revealed in the dialog — which I enjoyed, as much as in their more amorous scenes — which I also enjoyed! It will take a lot of pages to work through all the issues though - class, loss, and secrets.

While Anna and Will are sparking, Lizzie is coming into her own. She stumbles several times, which endears her to those around her even more. There is a funny scene with garden statuary that I adored. I really liked the relationship between Anna and Lizzie. Both orphans, both intelligent, both with unladylike upbringings. And both running from something. Or is it running to something? It was nice to see this friendship develop between the two of them.

I would have liked to see a similar development of the relationship between Lizzie and Will, but it was a bit choppy. I'm not raving about it, but I did like it. For historical romance readers, The Beautiful One has a nice balance of troubles, humor, and, of course, romance. Netgalley ARC provided by Publisher Jun 20, Roses R Blue rated it really liked it. Anna Bristol, now using the name of Anna Black, is running to try to stay one step ahead of the scandal that is following her. Her recently deceased father, who was a doctor, had a young protege, who spied on Anna in her room and bath.

He prepared a book of several scandalous drawings of her without her knowledge or consent. He then sold the drawings to a sleazy nobleman, who becomes determined to have Anna pose nude for him This man now threatens to reveal Anna's name, as he has shown the drawi Anna Bristol, now using the name of Anna Black, is running to try to stay one step ahead of the scandal that is following her. He then sold the drawings to a sleazy nobleman, who becomes determined to have Anna pose nude for him This man now threatens to reveal Anna's name, as he has shown the drawings, and they have caused quite a stir.

Anna runs away from her home, looking for anonymous employment. She finds it at a school for girls, where she is hired to be a seamstress. At this same school, sixteen year old Lizzie sneaks out at night to meet a man and steal a kiss. She is caught, and expelled from the school. She is to be sent home, and because there is no one else available to chaperone her on the trip, Anna is selected. Lizzie is an orphan, and is being sent to her guardian, Will Halifax, Viscount Grandville.

Will has also recently suffered tragedy. His beloved wife was killed a year ago, and he has never recovered. He goes through the motions of running his estate, and exhausts himself doing manual labor. He desires no company, he only wants to be left alone to wallow in his grief. When his ward shows up unannounced with her companion, he is less than pleased. Will first attempts to immediately send Anna and Lizzie to an inn until he can make arrangements to find another school.

Anna manages to convince him to let them stay for a month. Anna's boldness and her willingness to stand up to him intrigue Will. For the first time in a year, he feels desire, and that causes him to feel guilty. Each day Anna chips away at the walls around Will, and he, in turn enchants her with glimpses of the charming man he used to be before his loss.

Passion soon flares between them, and Will proposes marriage. While Anna realizes she's in love, she also realizes that Will is not. There is also the difference in their stations, and the scandal that could ruin her. I enjoyed this read very much. It has a unique story line, and the characters were wonderful. It was lovely to watch Will come to terms with his grief, and decide to live again. He is a loyal, honorable, and sexy man.

Anna had strength, but she wasn't hardened. She was also generous, and determined to do the right thing, even at the expense of her own happiness. They were perfect for each other. The romance was emotional and encompassing, and the story well written. I look forward to future books by Emily Greenwood, and give The Beautiful One my solid recommendation. Review appeared at Roses Are Blue http: Jun 01, Jen rated it really liked it. Check out the full review on Bookaholics Not-So-Anonymous. The Beautiful One is the first novel in The Scandalous Sisters series by Emily Greenwood and, heading into the ebook edition of this publication, I must admit that I was rather taken aback by the three hundred seventy-six pages that I saw staring back at me when I looked at my tablet.

I was half-prepared for their to be parts that would be dragging and Check out the full review on Bookaholics Not-So-Anonymous. I was half-prepared for their to be parts that would be dragging and absolutely unnecessary, thinking those explained the length of the book. Surprising though, I was able to finish this book in one sitting and never felt bored or at all. As a matter of fact, I hadn't realized just how far I had gotten when I did take a peek at the page number at one point of my reading experience.

It didn't disappoint and left me looking forward to the next book, which I hope will be about Lizzy Tarryton and Tommy Halifax, Will's ward and brother, respectively. This was a good regency romance with an interesting story of a young woman trying to escape looming humiliation at the hands of two men bent on exposing her identity as The Beautiful One and whose images in various states of undress were unknowingly put on paper. The character of Will Halifax, also known by his title of Viscount Granville, is one that I couldn't help but feel empathy for, especially after having lost his wife in a riding accident.

I liked how Anna and Will's relationship evolved over an extended period of time. Theirs was a slow burn type of romance and, fortunately, it was worth the wait. Regency and historical romances were among my top favorites growing up, though I have noticed that I haven't read as many of them recently. Books like The Beautiful One make me miss those old pocketbooks that I have lining some of my bookshelves and make me want to read even more of the sub-genres now.

I enjoyed this book and loved its tale of the power of love and that accepting someone for their past and present will enable you to have a more promising future as a couple. This is my first Emily Greenwood novel but it certainly won't be the last. Aside from book two in the series, I'll be checking out her list of past work and will be adding on to my to-be-read TBR list and will hopefully have as good a reading experience as I did this time around. I'm going to be giving The Beautiful One four stars. Mar 18, Pansy rated it really liked it. A historical romance that alludes to scandal just needs to be read.

They are so much fun! Since I did not see any sisters, well unless the author means the sisters of various male characters in the book, it bodes well that the rest of the series will do well as stand-alone reads. The historical romance part of this book was something that I believe every fan of the genre looks for. The elaborate ball gowns. The not so autocratic aristocrats, that still seem to be just as arrogant.

The impoverished gentle woman being taken advantage of by unscrupulous aristocrats. Meddling family — whether by blood, marriage, or chosen. And of course, the scandal! It was all here and put together in a very entertaining story. She was strong and intelligent during an era where those qualities were not necessarily considered desirable by a good portion of elite society. I rather liked that about her, even if it did ultimately cause her some major problems. Will Halifax, Viscount Grandville, had kind of dropped out of life after his wife died.

I understood this concept and thought it worked for this story. I found it inspiring how being forced to actually embrace some unwanted responsibilities ultimately brought him back to life. Of course Anna kind of had to hit him over the head about it all, and his unexpected and unwanted desires for Anna did kind of help that along.

I liked how the author still had him thinking about everything and ultimately coming to things on his own rather than Anna being the instant cure. The secondary characters were well thought out and added nicely to the story. The story itself moved along well and kept me engaged. I especially liked how the title of the book was worked into the story. It was a bit of a surprise and gave the story some added dimension and excitement.

It has the romance with a bit of suspense. A very enjoyable read. I was provided a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. Jun 10, Gaele rated it liked it Shelves: The first of a new series, Anna Black is shocked to discover that a book of nudes is being circulated through society, and if the woman in the sketches, The Beautiful One, is discovered, she will be ruined. Anna is a bit of a conundrum: Lizzie, on the other hand, felt flat and more contrived: For his part, Will was an engaging character: Still grieving, it takes the appearance of Anna and Lizzie to bring out the humor and tinge of wickedness he hides so well.

But, their romance is most certainly the best part of the story. The story is suffering from a touch of distraction in the plotting arc, with the romance being far stronger than the mystery, and that effects the emotional impact and accessibility of the story for me. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: Jun 15, Amy Alvis rated it really liked it. This is book 1 in the Scandalous Sisters series.

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Finding out the someone has made nude drawings of her, Anna Black must find some way to hide from society. She takes a job as a seamstress at a girl's school, but soon finds herself acting as the companion to the ward of Viscount Grandville. Will Halifax, Viscount Grandville, doesn't want his ward Lizzy and her companion in his home. Lizzy reminds him too much of his dead wife. Having closed himself off on his estate, he doesn't like his solitude This is book 1 in the Scandalous Sisters series. Having closed himself off on his estate, he doesn't like his solitude taken away from him.

Realizing that he has no where to send Lizzy, he convinces Anna to stay until he can find another companion or school to send her to. Anna soon realizes that Will and Lizzy need each other. They are both in pain from losing loved ones. What happens when Anna realizes she needs Will too? I enjoyed this story. The tension of Anna being found by the owner of the sketches added another dimension to it. You're never quite sure when it will happen, but you know that it will cause some drama. Will has closed himself off after losing his wife.

He had been in love with her and didn't want to go through the pain of losing another loved one, so he closed himself off from everyone else. We see Anna trying to break through that hard exterior to get Will to connect with Lizzy and in turn she falls for him herself. I look forwarding to reading book two in the series, which comes out in March Thanks go out to Sourcebooks via NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.

This is the first book in " The Scandalous Sisters" series. I will be honest and say that I was kind of hesitant to read this book due to the story line. But I have read all of Emily Greenwood's book and found that I like them a lot. So with her name on the book I wanted to read it. I was happily surprised that I really enjoyed this book. I would almost say it is her best book so far. I found that I like the secondary characters and hope that their is a story there to come.

Our heroine is Anna Black, who is using a false name and trying to out run two gentlemen that are trying to make her pose for a painting based on the drawings were done of her. The drawings were done without her knowledge and she feels hurt and violated by them. She basically has been on her own as her mother died at a early age and her father was a Dr. Anna is asked to escort a young lady to her Guardian. Which leads her to meet our hero, Will Halifax, Viscount Grandville. Will has lost his wife and has settled into life of a hermit.

At first he tries to get Anna and Lizzie his ward to leave. But slowly things come together and Will starts to get over his hard and hurtful ways. Of course Anna feels there is no hope for her since she is on the run from her past, which starts the story of her overcoming the past and Will becoming more accepting to having a future. I really enjoyed this book and hope that you do too!! Apr 28, Zili rated it really liked it Shelves: If you're looking for a fun historical story then you'll most likely enjoy Emily Greenwood's The Beautiful One.

They are two people who are trying to hide. Anna is fleeing from potential scandal and Will is hiding from society, whilst not dealing with his grief after a tragic loss. Anna is the unwilling subject of a series of naughty drawings, facing potential ruin if her name is revealed. She finds he 3. She finds herself working as the guardian for Will's young ward, Elizabeth. She sets herself the task of getting them to bond with each other.

I really liked Anna who had a fairly modern attitude for a young woman of her time and circumstance. I found Will's brooding manner quite entertaining and he never failed to make me smile. I liked them together and wanted Anna to figure out where her HEA was. There were a couple of incidents that seemed a little convenient at times, but in terms of historical fiction I would happily let them slide. It would have been nice to have seen a little longer ending because I really wanted to know what happened next.

The secondary characters including Lizzie, Will's brother and stepmother were fun additions to the book. Indeed, advertising for the novel in identified the group of older women as a selling point for the book, as in this brief advert from The Sunday Times , which spent most of its short notice on them: Some reviewers saw them as Dickensian figures, others as Shakespearian clearly the latter group had the Scottish play in mind.

Love on the Dole became the best-known novel of working-class life published during the nineteen-thirties. It was praised in newspaper reviews across the spectrum of political affiliations. I wonder whether hon. Love on the Dole has a significant place in British history, because it quickly became, and has remained, the novel to turn to to illustrate or analyse the conditions of British working-class life in the thirties and the terrible impact of the Depression on the lives of individuals as well as whole towns and cities.

Taylor refers to the novel precisely in these kind of terms in his widely-read book English History Love on the Dole has often been read as a novel with a very clear and simple message: But equally its worth as a novel, its meaning and its politics have often been the subject of much debate. In , after the success of his first novel, Love on the Dole , was becoming apparent, Greenwood stood for the second time in local council elections in Salford, this time winning the very deprived St Matthias ward for Labour by votes see the Working Class Movement Library article on Greenwood: Greenwood remained a city councillor for a year and drew on that experience for his second novel, His Worship the Mayor.

The novel tells a story of local politics and corruption by focussing on the unexpected rise of Edgar Hargreaves, a near- bankrupt tailor who comes into a large legacy and whom it then suits the local elite of the Two Cities to court and adopt as a candidate in a local election. However, Edgar is without any political belief except that he should have his share of the advantages harvested by the mutually-supportive ruling clique of the city. Acres of plate glass glare forth with electrical extravagance when darkness descends.

For it is there, this slumdom. Jonathan Cape, Florin Books edition,, p. Frequently horse-drawn lorries passed whose sides were decorated with huge calico banners saying: Such unintended consequences have little place in the more cynical story of His Worship The Mayor , which sees Sam Grundy as, if anything, one of the more honest of the elected officials of Salford: Holding aloft his election address written by Mr Crawley: This novel, like Love on the Dole , was well-reviewed by newspapers and periodicals with widely differing political viewpoints and readerships.

British Fiction in the s , , p. Greenwood was by no means a one-novel author as one might think from looking at many critical and journalistic accounts of his career though see my review of his novel, Standing Room Only from for his thoughts about a fictional working-class author who did only have one book or play in him. Though now pretty much forgotten and not reprinted since the thirties, the positive public reception of his second novel was almost equal to that of his first though I find it much less engaging than Love on the Dole.

However, its anti-hero Edgar perhaps also in a distorting way reflects something of the change of status which successful authorship had brought to Greenwood himself he moved first to a better area in Salford and then to London. He revolved hitherto unsuspected pleasant aspects of his present environment. New significances, potentialities began slowly to unfold; a strange sense of unhampered freedom, of there being no obligation to stay in the Two Cities against his will. His Worship the Mayor suggests that some — but only some — can get out, perhaps something which did worry Greenwood, though his novels continued throughout the thirties and forties to represent working people and to argue that British society must be reformed in order to abolish the cycles of poverty which produced such intolerable social deprivation.

Atkinson, who also designed some posters in a related style for London Transport in the thirties see as an example, poster number 50 from on this excellent blog site: The Times Literary Supplement reviewer thought it:. A pity that he has been lured from Manchester and Salford; his previous books have made him a name as a chronicler of contemporary life. Actually, the novel does not simply abandon Salford, for much of it is set there, including much of its exploration of the world and business of the theatre, which was by no means alien to the life of the two Cities.

What the reviewer seems to mean is that this novel does move on from the Salford which she would want to see again — a Salford which only symbolises urban-working class poverty. Standing Room Only engages in its own way with the question of what might happen to working-class writers after they have achieved their first success. Henry Ormerod is clearly based to an extent on Greenwood himself, and contemporary readers would surely have recognised this.

Henry Ormerod like Greenwood, who sent the typescript of the novel of Love on the Dole to two publishers simultaneously has sent his play to two different theatrical agents — who happen to be long-time rivals. The other impresario, Henry Ellis, is motivated by rivalry and through taking at face value information gleaned from his sneaked glance at the flattering acceptance letter which McPherson has sent to Henry Ormerod. In the end, Henry agrees in a moment of inattention, so glad is he to be home, to marry Edna.

Keeper of Reign

The truth is that he now feels he fits in nowhere, something summed up by the car which Edna insists on:. Before its arrival they had been uncomprehending of the significance of his new profession: He had used the tramcars and buses as themselves and had stood with them in the queues for these vehicles. He now had a vehicle to himself …Sometimes he passed a group of his friends as they stood chatting at the street corner. Standing Room Only seems a reasonably successful comic novel about what might happen to a provincial working-class author who is taken up by the numerous agents who are part of the processes of publication and performance, though it does have a distinctly down-beat ending.

Perhaps Greenwood was reflecting on what might have happened had he been a one-novel author — as, ironically, posterity has tended to see him. Some of the contemporary reviewers clearly disagreed about the balance between the two elements in Standing Room Only , but it is a novel worth reading for its reflections on the status of a working-class writer and his or her relationship with some of the institutions through which writing is distributed and mediated. Walter Greenwood is well-known for his novel Love on the Dole , which is remembered as the iconic British novel of the Depression.

By it had sold some 46, copies in the UK, and had been seen in a stage adaptation by some 3 million people in Britain. Love on the Dole was often regarded as authentic testimony from a working-class author who had experienced unemployment in Salford between and However, he did not begin by writing a novel, but by writing short stories about working-class life intended for fiction magazines. When Greenwood wrote to the successful popular novelist Ethel Mannin for help, she advised him to turn the short stories into a novel if he wished to make a living as a writer.

This he did, reworking the stories to produce Love on the Dole in It was not until that Greenwood published the original short stories in a form very different from that he first planned.

Walter Greenwood’s Other Books

They appeared in a lavish edition called The Cleft Stick which was a co-produced work with the artist Arthur Wragg a graduate of Sheffield School of Art who was also, like Greenwood, from a poor background. The book included full-page illustrations, illustrated end-papers and an embossed cover as well as an illustrated dust-wrapper. By this time both Greenwood and Wragg had a certain celebrity status as working-class writers, and the book sold well.

Arthur Wragg had published a number of illustrated works, often with highly original and strikingly contemporary versions of Christian themes. The Cleft Stick has been extraordinarily neglected, yet it was favourably reviewed as a controversial sequel to Love on the Dole , and was widely read in Britain and the USA there are still quite a few copies available second-hand at a certain price, but it would be excellent if the volume were re-printed. Indeed, The Cleft Stick is not even just another work of working-class fiction by the author of Love on the Dole: If we are interested in Love on the Dole and working-class writing we certainly should be interested in The Cleft Stick too.

Editors of popular magazines, whom I considered ought to have been proud to have included these stories in their pages, thought differently, though all were generous in their praise, one of them actually paying twenty-five guineas for the privilege of printing one. I was invited to write football stories, but, not having any feeling for such subjects, the effort would have been a waste of time. Miss Ethel Mannin, a complete stranger to me at the time, was good enough to read the collection and to advise me to write a novel using some of the characters.

I followed her advice, and Love on the Dole was the consequence. Had it not been for a holiday in Cornwall last year when I spent a good deal of time in the company of my friend Arthur Wragg, the artist, I guess the short stories comprising most of this volume would still be in their brown-paper parcel p.

Power Play (Kingdom Keepers, #4) by Ridley Pearson

In form The Cleft Stick is a two-hundred-and-twenty-page collection of fifteen short stories, accompanied by sixteen illustrations, of which twelve are full double-page images and four are full single page images. Jonathan Cape in It should also be noted that two key figures in the novel have little direct equivalent in the short story collection: Larry Meath, the working-class intellectual and activist has no story, and there is no direct equivalent for Sally Hardcastle, the working-class woman who makes a desperate and appalling deal with the bookie Sam Grundy for the benefit of her male relatives and mother.

It is about the desperation of Mrs Cranford, who has too many children and not enough money: There was not so much working-class writing published in the nineteen thirties that we can afford totally to forget such a once well-known and aesthetically interesting collaboration between a successful working-class writer and successful working-class artist. Another Cleft Stick Review. But the novel itself is not dull. Patrons of the pub became his patrons as a matter of course Morley-Baker reprint, Leeds, , p. Robert Treville dies young of pneumonia, brought on more or less directly, the novel makes clear, by his chronic struggle with drink; Tom Greenwood also died young, aged forty-five, in , but as a direct result, anyway, of chronic lung disease, probably TB.

However, it also has a firmly romance-based plot though not exactly a happy ending for the principals in this. Greenwood, needing to maintain both his income and standing as a professional author, may have been exploring how he might sustain his writing career using popular or middlebrow genres during the years following Love on the Dole and His Worship the Mayor.

Paula, has in fact, and despite what the neighbours all think, absented herself to work as a parlour-maid and to recover from her refusal of a proposal of marriage:. She could think of John Blake now without a pang. As for the other men. Good manners were something to be shy, if not ashamed of. What then remained for her to satisfy her desire for colour and romance but Italian opera, Shakespeare, the poets and the classical novelists?

There were, of course, that most secret and cherished release from reality, dreams. Impalpable things that could be, and often were, more real than reality. In these she could believe, whereas all that which she saw about her. Who could countenance the mean lives of Lancashire workers, the endless dreariness of the streets, the dirt, poverty, weeping skies, the feeling of imprisonment, of no escape and the never-ending uncertainty of everything? Bert Treville is equally romantically inclined, but in his case towards Paula: For example, the opening scene-setting chapter highly reminiscent of the opening of Love on the Dole talks of the way in which the Two Cities can be differently understood from different ideological and class viewpoints:.

Let it pass that children are taught that Manchester is a place at which anybody can point with pride as an illustrious example of national wealth, municipal enterprise and public-spiritedness. All this is, alas, only one side of the picture. Streets of houses where the proletariat put up a pretence of living: Of this there is no end.

This may not be revolutionary rhetoric, but neither is it obviously encouraging an easy acceptance of the status quo or avoiding entirely any disturbance to readers who may not share this kind of social analysis. Though the novel is strongly interested in romance, it does also seem keen to provide points of entry for male readers. Lance was fed up with this school business. Look at Billy Waring and the gang; all wearing overalls, talking professionally about capstan lathes, foundries, machine shops, castings, shell-cases, big guns, oh, and all the romantic things associated with the war!

If he were wearing overalls would Aunt Anne have the nerve to ask him to be bringing her new baby to the mill every day at noon? At the end of The Secret Kingdom, after a long period of unemployment, Lance makes it as a concert pianist when he is broadcast live by BBC radio the Byrons have to borrow a wireless to listen. The Secret Kingdom of the title is, it seems, a sustaining inner resource of higher things — a combination of socialist principles with high cultural participation. In many ways this is a classic Greenwood ending reminiscent of his own deus ex machina acceptance letters for his early short stories and his first novel.

However, there is also for Paula a sense of the rest of her class abandoned, left behind by her individual advance: The review in the Times Literary Supplement praised his continued engagement with working-class life, but is unimpressed by the technique and quality of the novel:. It is pleasant to find that Mr Greenwood has not abandoned in imagination the working-class scene. Once more he writes of poverty and insecurity in the mean streets of Salford, of the response of different types of character to hard and ugly conditions of life.

It is less pleasant to record that this latest book of his is a disappointment. Paula, as she is drawn here, is a ghost of a woman, not a person at all, but a personification of conventional working-class virtues R. One might, of course, say that all literary works do draw on conventions in one way or another, but the reviewer clearly feels that between Love on the Dole and The Secret Kingdom Greenwood has fallen from the position of original writer to that of merely conventional writer.

Other reviews were more positive, acknowledging a combination of attractive qualities. But one of his books, which has been sadly neglected, is fully in the documentary mode — his non-fiction contribution to the late thirties Labour Book Service series: How the Other Man Lives. Here Greenwood mainly lets the subjects speak for themselves though direct quotation and through his paraphrases of their views — though there are often implicit and a few explicit commentaries. The book is made up of thirty-seven sections each about a particular kind of working-class job, each based on interviews with a worker or workers.

I know of no evidence about when and where these interviews too place, but they must have taken considerable time and effort. The book title to modern ears seems to assume that only men work — and there is some truth in this charge in that the majority of the sections are about occupations regarded as exclusively masculine at the time, or anyway use exclusively male exemplars.

In fact, twenty-eight sections are about or mainly about male workers, while only nine are about female workers. Others jobs included are less obviously or typically part of industry or transport, but are firmly represented as equivalent in their frequent insecurity, their hard work, and in the lack of any pay which could possibly generate savings against bad times: Greenwood suggests that he has had opportunities to see how PACs work from two different viewpoints.

Secondly, though he does not quite state this as his own experience, a number of references to the involvement of elected councillors in the workings of the PACs may draw on his time as a Salford Labour Councillor from to But he is mainly indignant about the behaviour of the Committees themselves and about the financial pressures exerted within an inefficient and unjust system: Greenwood finds that plenty of men are willing to work in such systems for the good pay rates, but they also share his feeling that such work is alienating and bad for their mental health: But to talk to the farm-workers Greenwood moves from this overview of the landscape into the village pub Love on the Dole actually begins in a similar way.

He immediately notes that the men try to make one pint of beer or cider last the whole evening — they cannot afford a second. He also reflects that it is not easy to get the farm-labourers to talk about their lives and by implication that to this townie they do not feel like modern free citizens, but more like part of an older kind of social order: This section is unusual in the book in that Greenwood for a large part listens in to an argument between two different points of view from within an occupational group — if that can be said of a small-holder and a farm-labourer the discussion makes very clear that the small-holder feels like a free man in a way which the farm-worker does not, and at times seems like a representative of a Marxist history in which the progressive bourgeoisie criticise the feudal order.

The small-holder is highly critical of farmers, arguing that at this time they receive large government subsidies, while paying no rates and yet are constantly re-elected to the County Council as controllers of public monies by their own loyal farm-workers. This is clearly a public conversation in the pub and Greenwood turns aside from it to a more private talk with a farm-labourer to get his own viewpoint. He also likes the advantage over the city-dweller of being able to grow a good deal of his own food. The argument seems balanced at this point, but a single topic produces in Greenwood an overwhelming indignation.

The farm-worker observes that he has Sunday off these days, once he has milked the cows. Greenwood says he is presumably excused this Sunday-working during his annual holidays at least, but the worker replies that he has never had a holiday, but works fifty-two weeks in the year: As I noted in my book on Greenwood p.

Here too Greenwood sees it as an essential for every worker and any pastoral sentiments are finally replaced at the conclusion of this section by radical indignation and a substantial quotation from the medieval peasant leader John Ball:. Good people, things will never go well in England so long as goods be not in common, and so long as there be villeins and gentlemen.

By what right are they whom we call lords greater folk than we? And yet it is of us and of our toil that these men hold their state. In contrast, the Super Cinema Usherette is a representative of a worker in a modern world of consumption and mass entertainment. The interviewee says that the long hours are found hard by most of the women — they often start work at 8.

Greenwood then asks some questions about her own use of leisure perhaps precisely because she works in the leisure industry herself and explores quite closely her views of cinema, theatre and novels. Asked if she and her friends go to the movies in their spare time, she says they prefer the theatre, but sometimes go to see specific films. Greenwood asks if she has favourite film stars and she names the now well-remembered Bette Davis and the less-well-remembered Barry K. Barnes he was at this point best-known for his part in the British film of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Her tastes in films and novels are curiously contrasted — probably because the films are a constant background to her working life, rather than a choice:.

You feel like throwing yourself under a bus. When it comes to reading her preferences are rather different:. A few copies — but not many — are currently available on online book-sellers. I think it is well worth finding a copy if you can and if you like documentary so that you can read each of the thirty-seven sections for yourself.

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