My favorite of Brenda Jagger's excellent novels of Victorian England. The story follows several characters over some years as their lives weave together: Cara, an Irish sewing girl; Gemma, a millowner's indulged daughter; and Daniel, an Irish idealist and sometime revolutionary. Daniel is a bit thin as a hero, but the women are fascinating, with Gemma struggling to find meaning and fulfillment in her restricted life, and Cara simply hoping to survive in a world that is ruthless towards the helpless. Gemma makes a rich marriage, Cara struggles to establish herself as a fashionable dressmaker, and both will at various points fall in love with Daniel as he tries to bring equal rights to the mill-workers of their sullen Yorkshire town. A strong and compelling read with strong and compelling characters. Cara - a Scarlett O'Hara if she had been born poor - is especially likeable, and another male character who presents initially as a villain will surprise you with unexpected humanity. This book and this author are neither of them as well known as they should be.
