Items related to Never Were Such Times
Set in late-nineteenth-century England and India, this novel follows the fortunes of a philanderer who weds a parlormaid for money only to find out that she has inherited some children as well
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About the Author:
Nancy Livingstone was born in Stockton-on-Tees. She has worked as an actress, a cook, a musician, an air stewardess and as a production assistant in television. Her radio plays have been broadcast in the UK and abroad.
From Kirkus Reviews:
Livingston returns to her concern for life among the lowly in turn-of-the-century Britain (The Far Side of the Hill, 1988; The Land of Our Dreams, 1989), again to plump for the primacy of simple virtues. Suffolk and London are the settings for this tale of hard times, cruelty, and injustice--with its sunny conclusion. Against all good advice, lusty housemaid Sybilla marries lazy lout Enoch Porrit, and then learns that there's no escape. This knowledge of lifelong servitude to a miserable union changes Sybilla from a pretty, lively girl, to a witch. Sybilla manipulates her way to a strange sort of independence, cheating and exploiting the helpless, and worse, brutalizing her brother's gentle, dependent orphans: two boys, Chas and Albert, who will at a tender age go to India with the army; and Polly, who will be hired out as a kitchen maid, then marry shy, courteous middle-aged Henry. There will also be a lover...and a baby. Eventually, Chas, escaping marriage, bolts for America; and Albert, kind and good, finds a true mate in Esther, a blossom in London's grime. Finally, though, the lost brothers will return; there'll be a sad death and welcome births; the good will be rewarded, and the wicked will rage in all those blind alleys. In spite of an extravagance in coincidence and heavy underlining of Good and Evil, Livingston offers a convincing energetic appreciation of the times and the poisoning wells of poverty--which fuels reader affection for all suffering innocents. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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- PublisherThorndike Pr
- Publication date1992
- ISBN 10 156054256X
- ISBN 13 9781560542568
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages763
- Rating
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