Believing in Tomorrow
Rita Bradshaw, an author whose name on the cover appears in larger print than the rather non-descript title, has established a reputation as a purveyor of sagas with a Gothic edge. In this case the female protagonist, Molly McKenzie, is unusual, as we are told that despite her blonde hair and blue eyes, her mother is of Romani extraction. Less unusually, she is also feisty: ‘a tigress under that pretty exterior.’
Our story begins in 1900 as abused child Molly sneaks off to the fair to have fun for once in her life. She gets beaten to unconsciousness and runs away from home after her father has already killed her sister. Found almost dying, she is taken in by a fishing family. For a few years normal life follows, then in a whirl of forbidden love, death, and murder-suicide, all is unravelled. Working in a canning factory, Molly makes some friends, one of whom teaches her to read, and then offers classes on being a lady. Molly then poses as middle class, to become a governess for the children of a widowed doctor.
There are graphic descriptions of injury and death—drowning, burning. As the men suffer, Molly shrewdly seizes her chances and rises to become a factory owner. Of course, this is not enough. Will she manage to find the right man in a world where so many are worthless?
Consistently fast-moving, with each new chapter putting the reader into the thick of the action, this book offers vivid escapism, though I did notice awkward flaunting of research and some ungainly explicatory dialogue. Still, it is without doubt a worthy addition to Bradshaw’s body of work and will find a ready audience amongst her readers.
