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Book Review : Christmas Child by Carol Rivers
Regular readers will know that I often feature books by best-selling author Carol Rivers who has written a series of books about the Isle of Dogs. Carol’s gritty and heartwarming East End family dramas are greatly influenced by her grandparents who lived in Gavrick Street and then Chapel House Street on the Island. The books are widely praised for their realism and have appeared regularly in many bestseller charts and have a loyal readership in the UK and increasingly in the United States.
Recently, I was delighted to receive her latest book entitled Christmas Child which is based in Victorian London and follows the exploits of Ettie O’Reilly, who grows up in an orphanage in Poplar.
The book begins on Christmas Day 1880 in Poplar when a sick unmarried mother leaves her new born baby at the Sisters of Clemency Convent, next we move forward thirteen years and that baby is now thirteen year old Ettie O’Reilly whose protected life in the orphanage is coming to an abrupt end with the closing of the institution. The nuns had been her only family and she had enjoyed helping the nuns and helping the younger orphans helping them with their reading and writing.
When Michael, an East End street urchin arrived, Ettie tries to help him with his reading and writing, but he is difficult and has spent his whole life looking out for himself. Eventually, Michael and Ettie become good friends, and when Michael declares Ettie to be his girl, she is not unhappy.
When the Roman Catholic church decides to close the orphanage, Ettie is found a place as a maid to Lucas and Clara Benjamin, who own a smoking lounge in Soho. Michael decides to go back to life on the streets and Ettie starts her new life as a maid to the Benjamin’s.
Ettie finds that that life outside the orphanage is a challenge in more ways than one and good fortune is often followed by bad fortune. The twists and turns of Ettie’s life during next few years are fraught with danger, poverty and near death, but she is blessed in finding some true friends who seek to protect her from her mother’s fate. After being exposed to the dark side of the city, will she ever find Michael and have true happiness?
What sets Carol’s books apart from many others of the type is that she creates believable characters who represent some of the best and worst of human qualities. Carol’s books pays tribute to strong characters, often women like Ettie who will not be defeated by life’s injustices and hardships. Carol also manages to realistically portray a complex Victorian London full of great wealth and terrible poverty.
Although this fascinating and enjoyable book represents a move away from the East End family dramas, it still has a strong sense of humanity which Carol suggests can be found even in the worst environments.
I am sure that Christmas Child will be just as successful as Carol’s other books and If you would like to read buy a copy of the book, it is available here.
Carol lives in Dorset but still follows closely events on the Island and is a long time supporter of Isle of Dogs Life. If you would like to find out more about the book or other books written by Carol Rivers. Please visit her website here
A Walk around Limehouse Basin
Recently I wrote a post regarding the joy of walking around Millwall Dock, this week my journey take me a short distance away from Canary Wharf to Limehouse Basin. Although now the basin is quite sedate and full of narrow and leisure boats, It is hard to imagine that in the past the dock would have full of sailing ships, steam colliers, lighters and full of activity with people dealing with various cargoes. However if you know where to look, there is evidence of its illustrious past.
Regent’s Canal Dock 1823
Limehouse Basin or Limehouse Dock as it is sometimes known was previously called The Regent’s Canal Dock because built by the Regent’s Canal Company and it connected the Regent’s Canal with the River Thames at Limehouse. The idea behind the Regent’s Canal Dock was that the basin was to be built large enough to admit sea-going vessels and cargo could be transferred to and from lighters or narrow boats.
Photo – A G Linney 1933
The Regent’s Canal Dock was considered a commercial failure following its opening in 1820, however by the mid 19th century it had become very successful because in the trade in coal and its role as the principal entrance from the Thames to the entire national canal network. The rise of the railways led to some decline but the system was still used extensively in the First and Second World Wars.
On the north side of the basin is a viaduct that was originally built for the London and Blackwall Railway in the 1840s and is now used by The Docklands Light Railway.
Behind a viaduct arch is the tower of a hydraulic accumulator from 1869, The Regent’s Canal Dock was one of the first to use hydraulic power using a system was developed by William Armstrong.
The Basin today is full of narrow boats which is a reminder of its glory days, but other vessels can be spotted including a couple of Thames barges. Many people live on the narrow boats which are permanently moored here.
The connection to the Regent’s Canal is still there, enabling boats to go inland or onto the Thames.
There is also a connection onto the Limehouse Cut which links the basin to the Lee Navigation at Bow Locks. The Limehouse Cut used to be connected directly to the River Thames. From 1854, the Regents Canal took control of Limehouse Cut and built a connecting link into the Regents Canal Dock. However the link was short-lived and in 1864, it was filled in.
In the 1960s, the lock that connected Limehouse Cut to the Thames needed to be replaced. So the decision was made to reinstate a link to the Regents Canal Dock. This connection was opened in 1968 and as you walk around the dock you can follow Limehouse Cut as it makes its way north.
Limehouse Basin suffered decline in the 1970s and 80s like the docks but redevelopment of the Basin was considered in the 1980s. Over the next 20 years, residential development took place on the derelict land surrounding the basin.
Now it is possible to walk all around the basin and enjoy the various attractions, there is plenty of birdlife and even a community book exchange which I noticed had a book by Carol Rivers who we often feature on the website.
The Island and Limehouse are great places to understand some of the remarkable history of the area. Limehouse Basin and the Docks were important transport hubs that for centuries created important trade connections with Britain and the rest of the world.
Lizzie Flowers and the Family Firm by Carol Rivers
Regular readers will know that I often try to find books that feature the Isle of Dogs, it is often surprising just how many have featured the Island. Much rarer is writers who locate a series of books on the Island, one writer that does is best-selling author Carol Rivers and I was delighted recently to receive a copy of her latest book, Lizzie Flowers and the Family Firm.
Carol’s gritty and heartwarming East End family dramas are greatly influenced by her grandparents who lived in Gavrick Street and then Chapel House Street on the Island. The books are widely praised for their realism and have appeared regularly in many bestseller charts and have a loyal readership in the UK and increasingly in the United States.
Lizzie Flowers and the Family Firm is the third of the series of Lizzie Flowers dramas, the first in the series was Lizzie of Langley Street which took place in the period of the First World War followed by The Fight for Lizzie Flowers which is set in the early 1930’s. Lizzie Flowers and the Family Firm begins in 1934 and finds Lizzie seeking some peace, after some traumatic experiences, not least overcoming the intentions of East End villain Leonard Savage. At last things appear to be going well for Lizzie, Now not only does she still run the shop of Ebondale Street, she has also built up a successful bakery store with the help of Jenny her manageress.
However, on a personal level, things are not running smoothly, Lizzie’s one true love, Danny, had asked her to move away from the Isle of Dogs to his fancy new showroom in the West End, but Lizzie determined to ensure her family and friends survive refuses, so Danny and his adopted son Tom, move away, leaving Lizzie heart-broken.
To add to her worries, Lizzie spots a woman holding a baby outside the bakery one morning, she cannot believe that this downtrodden woman is her friend Ethel carrying a baby. Ethel collapses into Lizzie’s arms and beseeches Lizzie to help her.
Despite opposition from all around her, Lizzie is determined to take over the lease of the Mill Wall, a pub renowned for its ladies of the night and rivalry. Lizzie gives her husband Frank the opportunity to redeem himself by running the pub and ensuring that its clientele remain ‘clean’ and free from the ladies of the night frequenting it. Will Frank be able to maintain his sobriety to show Lizzie and his family that he has turned over a new leaf.
Lizzie continues to do what she does best, nurturing her family and friends so they have a good life on the Island, however, with the Mill Wall Pub, the bakery and the shop, has Lizzie bit off more than she can handle ? A new villain on the block, “the Prince” certainly thinks so, and is threatening both her family and her livelihood. When there is a fire at the bakery resulting in the death of the cook Madge and severe burns to Jenny, Lizzie is worried she will lose everything.
What sets Carol’s books apart from many others of the type is that she creates believable characters who inhabit an Island that is still reliant on the docks and where family is still of great importance. Whilst the extended families were a great source of support, sometimes loyalties were divided that often led to conflict. This is another characteristic of Carol’s books, she honestly portrays characters who have gone off the rails and how families have to deal with a series of setbacks.
Carol’s books pays tribute to the strong characters, often women who kept families together through adversity. Lizzie Flowers is one such character who is full of true East End grit who will not be defeated by life’s injustices and hardships.
I am sure that Lizzie Flowers and the Family Firm will be just as successful as Carol’s other books and will generate plenty of interest in the Island’s fascinating past. If you would like to read Lizzie Flowers and the Family Firm, it is available here.
Molly’s Christmas Orphans by Carol Rivers
Regular readers will know that I am always keen to find books with a link to the Island. Very few writers have written about the Island in a series of books, the great exception is bestselling author Carol Rivers who has written a number of books which generally feature characters on the Island.
Carol’s gritty and heart-warming East End family dramas are greatly influenced by her grandparents who lived in Gavrick Street and then Chapel House Street on the Island. The books are widely praised for their realism and appear regularly in many bestseller charts and Carol has a loyal readership in the UK and increasingly in the United States.
I was delighted to receive a copy of Carol’s latest book, Molly’s Christmas Orphans which is focused on the Island during the bombing of the Second World War and tells of the trials that Molly endures throughout the war years.
The story begins with war-torn Isle of Dogs struggling to deal with the constant bombing. Molly and her father own Swift’s General Store on Roper Street, the store is Molly’s domain, where her and her father both live and work supplying groceries to local people. Molly, who has already suffered the tragedy of losing her husband at Dunkirk and daughter to illness, bravely carries on helping and supporting local people on the Isle of Dogs, through the shop and her friendship with people both on her street and the surrounding area.
When a bomb falls in the street outside Swifts General Store, Molly finds herself covered in rubble and not knowing what had happened. Not suffering any injuries, Molly waits in a cold hospital corridor for her father who had his leg broken during the bombing.
A sudden bombing raid forces Molly to take shelter in the hospital basement where she meets good time girl Cissy Brown and merchant seaman Andy Miller and his two young children Evie and Mark and an unlikely friendship begins.
Having been told by the nurse that her father needed to stay in hospital, Molly prepares to return home. During the wait, Molly’s conversations with Cissy and Andy had revealed that both were homeless and had nowhere to go. Molly’s good hearted response was to immediately offer a roof in Roper Street until they could find alternative means.
Molly’s adventures with both Cissy, Evie and Mark are revealed throughout the book, Molly learns to deal with the shadier side of life, and becomes mother to Evie and Mark and as her relationship with Andy deepens, would tragedy strike again, what lies in wait for Molly during the next few years and will she have a happy ending?
Molly’s Christmas Orphans is a wonderful tale of East End life during the war years, Molly is the central character and follows her struggles to survive and finds her protective and supportive nature are tested to the limit.
Carol lives in Dorset but still follows closely events on the Island and is a long time supporter of Isle of Dogs Life. If you would like to find out more about the book or other books written by Carol Rivers. Please visit her website here
A Promise between Friends by Carol Rivers
Regular readers will know that I am always keen to find books with a link to the Island. Very few writers have written about the Island in a series of books, the great exception is bestselling author Carol Rivers who has written a number of books which generally feature characters on the Island.
Carol’s gritty and heart-warming East End family dramas are greatly influenced by her grandparents who lived in Gavrick Street and then Chapel House Street on the Island. The books are widely praised for their realism and appear regularly in many bestseller charts and Carol has a loyal readership in the UK and increasingly in the United States.
I was delighted to receive a copy of Carol’s latest book, A Promise between Friends which takes place in the early 1950s and follows the adventures of the ambitious, 19-year-old Ruby Payne and her lifelong friend Kath Rigler. Ruby and Kath both suffer from issues that bring unhappy memories but are looking to start an exciting new independent life by moving into a new flat together.
London in the early 1950s was a city in transition, still suffering from shortages and bomb damage whilst trying to forge a new future. In the pursuit of the good things in life, some people were willing to take chances and the book captures the period when shady deals and false promises led many people into trouble. Ruby desperate to rise above her humble beginnings finds out that there is always a price to pay.
Carol Rivers
What really sets Carol’s book apart from many others of the type is that she creates believable characters who are faced with situations familiar to many of us, in overcoming these problems they often seek help from their extended families who are considered of great importance. However, Carol’s books acknowledge that even though extended families were a great source of support, sometimes those loyalties were tested and could lead to conflict. This is another characteristic of Carol’s books, she often displays some of negative aspects of London life when characters go off the rails.
But for all the pain and conflict, Carol pays tribute to the strong characters, often women who manage to keep going through adversity. Ruby and Kath are two such characters who will not be defeated by life’s injustices and hardships.
A Promise between Friends is the latest book from a writer who still takes a close interest of events on the Island and continues to be inspired by this small piece of East London.
If you would like to find out more about the book or buy a copy, it is available in many formats at Simon and Schuster, you can visit their website here
The Fight for Lizzie Flowers by Carol Rivers
Regular readers will know that I often try to find books that feature the Isle of Dogs, it is often surprising just how many have featured the Island. Much rarer is writers who locate a series of books on the Island, one writer that does is best selling author Carol Rivers and I was delighted last week to receive a copy of her latest book, The Fight for Lizzie Flowers .
Carol’s gritty and heartwarming East End family dramas are greatly influenced by her grandparents who lived in Gavrick Street and then Chapel House Street on the Island. The books are widely praised for their realism and have appeared regularly in many bestseller charts and have a loyal readership in the UK and increasingly in the United States.
The Fight for Lizzie Flowers is second of the series of Lizzie Flowers dramas, the first in the series was Lizzie of Langley Street which took place in the period of the First World War. The Fight for Lizzie Flowers is set in the 1930’s and begins with Lizzie preparing to marry Danny Flowers. It was Danny who had asked Lizzie to leave for a better life in Australia but Lizzie was not willing to make the break from her family and ended up marrying Danny’s brother Frank instead. It was a decision she came to regret but had stayed with him until he met an untimely end when he was drowned and fished out of the Thames at Limehouse.
Since Frank’s death, Lizzie had made a great success of running the Flowers greengrocer’s and Danny had come back to ask her to marry him. For all her hardships of the past, it now seemed her future was bright and full of hope. However an unwelcome guest arrives and Lizzie’s life is turned upside down.
What sets Carol’s book apart from many others of the type is that she creates believable characters who inhabit an Island that is still reliant on the docks and where family is still of great importance. Whilst the extended families were a great source of support, sometimes loyalties were divided that leads to conflict. This is another characteristic of Carol’s book, she often displays some of negative aspects of London life when characters go off the rails.
But for all the conflict, Carol pays tribute to the strong characters, often women who kept families together through adversity. Lizzie Flowers is one such character who is full of true East End grit who will not be defeated by life’s injustices and hardships.
I am sure that The Fight for Lizzie Flowers will be just as successful as Carol’s other books and will generate plenty of interest in the Island’s fascinating past. If you would like to read The Fight for Lizzie Flowers, it is available in many formats at Simon and Schuster, you can visit the page here
Carol Rivers – Together for Christmas
Some months ago, the blog featured an interview with Carol Rivers, the best selling author who usually locates her stories on the Isle of Dogs.
Her books are usually based in the first half of the twentieth century and have been widely praised for their historical accuracy and gritty realism.
Carol has just released her latest book ‘Together for Christmas’ which follows the destinies of three friends faced with realities of the first world war. Although the book is fiction, it was the experiences of Carol’s Grandfather in the Great War that have been influential in her writing career. How influential is explained by Carol herself who contributed the following piece.
“Home is Where the Heart is.”
A saying that perhaps the troops often used to console themselves as they struggled for survival in the deploring conditions of the mud caked, flooded and rat infested trenches of the Great War, 1914-1918. Shell-shock, trench fever, dysentery, gangrene, hypothermia and dozens more diseases were their daily companions. As a small child, my Granddad, a volunteer veteran from Chapel House Street on the Isle of Dogs where we lived in East London, told me of his experience tied to a gun wheel. Disorientated by the ear-splitting shelling, he was accused of being a deserter. He wasn’t executed but flogged and sent to a field hospital as, close to death, he slipped into delirium. It was during this time that he woke to the sight of a soldier gazing in through the hospital window. Granddad knew this man had died and was passing over his strength in those few seconds of intimacy. Granddad recovered. But mentally he was scarred and rarely talked of his ‘angel’ for fear of being ridiculed. So sharing his other-worldly moment with a child, was a gift to us both for it released his secret shame and triggered the inner life of my creativity. Unaware of all this at the time, I remember asking him what the man looked like. Granddad replied that his ‘angel’ wore the mask of every soldier dying on the battlefield. This is a vision that has never left me. The vision is where my own story began. My home and my heart are my books, telling the stories that perhaps might not have been told, had Granddad not confided in me. I am returned every day to the Isle of Dogs as it was in the first half of the 20th century. I write ‘ghosts’ who are living, breathing and fiercely alive. The Island has never meant more to me than it does now in this Centenary year, when I am able to honour The Fallen with my book, TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS. And rightly so, as many of us now would not be here today, if it wasn’t for them.
TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS paperback by Carol Rivers
published by Simon & Schuster 23rd October 2014
August 1914, London. Britain has just declared war on Germany, and the whole country holds its breath. Flora, Hilda and Will, who grew up together in St Boniface Orphanage sit in the sunshine in Hyde Park on a rare day off, discussing the impending war and the changes it might bring to their lives. Will means to go off to fight, Hilda hopes to better her current lot in life as a maid at the charitable institute, Hailing House, but Flora is content with her job as assistant to the Isle of Dogs’ kindly Doctor Tapper. Taking a vow, they pledge to always be there for each other, come what may. Little do they know that the conflict will not be over by Christmas as supposed by the government and each one of the three friends are drawn terrifyingly into the turmoil of war.
TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS can be purchased at Amazon and most online stores, supermarkets and bookshops.
If you would like to buy a copy of the book, it is available here
And if you would like more information on the Carol’s books at Simon & Schuster, you can visit the publisher’s website here
Boris Akunin,The Winter Queen and the Isle of Dogs
Over the past year or so, I have tried to show that the Isle of Dogs although widely considered a bit of literary wasteland has featured in a number of works by authors. Carol Rivers tends to base most of her novels on the Island and she is in a long line of writers who have featured this small piece of London in their writing.
However I have recently come across a book that surprisingly features the Island, why surprisingly ? because it was written by a Russian author Boris Akunin which is the pen name for Grigory Chkartishvili, a Russian writer, academic and translator.
The book is called the Winter Queen (although originally called Azazel in Russia) and features a young police detective called Erast Fandorin, the book first published in 1998 is incredibly popular in Russia where it has sold 15 million copies.
The Winter Queen is the first novel of the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels and is based in Moscow in the 1870s. The story begins with the apparent suicide of a wealthy university student, he leaves his large fortune to the newly opened Moscow orphanage of Astair House, an international network of schools for orphan boys founded by an English noblewoman, Lady Astair.
The open-and-shut suicide case is given to the inexperienced 20-year-old detective Erast Fandorin who begins to suspect that things are not quite what they seem.
Fandorin begins to suspect that a glamorous femme fatale Amalia is involved and follows her to the Winter Queen Hotel in London. When he confronts her there is a struggle and his gun goes off and Amalia lies on the floor apparently dead.
Fandorin panics and runs away and finally ends up on the Isle of Dogs.
On the Isle of Dogs, in the maze of narrow streets behind Millwall Docks , night falls rapidly. Before you can so much as glance over your shoulder the twilight has thickened from grey to brown and one in every two or three of the sparse street lamps are already glowing . It is dirty and dismal , the Thames ladens the air with damp, the rubbish tips adding the scent of putrid decay. The streets are deserted , with the only life , both disreputable and dangerous, teeming around the shady pubs and cheap furnished lodgings.
It is safe to say that his first impressions were not great and the guesthouse he selects is not much better.
The rooms in the “Ferry Road” guesthouse are home to decommissioned sailors ,petty swindlers and ageing port trollops.
The landlord is known as Fat Hugh who is always on his guard because ” The clientele here is a mixed bunch and you never know what they might be getting up to.”
Ferry House Pub
Obviously the Ferry Road guesthouse is likely to based on the Ferry House pub, the oldest pub on the Island and already over a hundred years old even in 1876 when the story is based.
Fandorin lies low and consider what to do next , but things begin to move quickly, he is kidnapped and tied up in a sack and dropped from a pier into the Thames. The ever resourceful Fandorin escapes and leaves the Isle of Dogs to return to Moscow.
Millwall Docks
Although there are mention of Millwall Docks and Ferry Road there are no other clues to other locations on the Island but that has not stopped fans of the book from making a pilgrimage to the Island to follow the footsteps of their fictional hero.
The book is an exciting adventure mystery and Fandorin a bit of a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones with a Russian twist, but the real mystery is why a Russian based author with no obvious connections to London would set part of his novel in a not widely known part of East London.
Isle of Dogs Life 