by Catherine Cookson (Author)
Suddenly risen to power and influence, Samuel Fairbrother, manufacturer and retailer of boots, shoes and clogs, decided that his new station in life deserved a more imposing residence. And so he bought himself a thirty-four-roomed mansion situated on the outskirts of Fellburn. With the house came Maitland, the butler, who at once made plain his belief that Samuel, far from the gentleman his predecessor had been, was no more than an upstart. So began a clash of wills and an uneasy truce between master and man. As the years went by and the century turned, Samuel Fairbrother saw his children, one by one, leave the big house to make lives of their own - all except his eldest daughter Janet. It was Janet who, by means of a legacy, was able to shape the destiny of her father's scattered family and effect the reconciliation that he had believed impossible.
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 480
Publisher: Corgi
Published: 14 Jul 2008
ISBN 10: 0552156752
ISBN 13: 9780552156752
Book Overview: An absorbing, beautifully told story of wealth, family ties, and class conflict at the end of the 19th Century.