Framesmith

England - October 1831.
The industrial revolution is in full swing but so too is a peoples revolution. The Whig government is backing electoral reform, a move seen by the Tory establishment as the precursor to a meltdown of the established order and the proposals are rejected by the House of Lords sparking a wave of protest in towns across the land. In Nottingham, rumours circulate on the Saturday evening at the annual Goose Fair and when conformation of the Bill's defeat reaches the town on Sunday morning, the people rise up in protest. The Mayor calls for a public meeting to restore law and order but fails to prevent the escalation of the violence and the Riot Act is read.
On that same Sunday morning, framesmith William Petty discovers that he is the victim of industrial espionage; that his design of a new machine to revolutionise the hosiery trade has been stolen and that his dreams of a successsful future have been replaced with the prospect of bankruptcy and the debtor's prison. As the riots break out he attempts to discover the perpetrators of the fraud against him but quickly becomes involved in the surge of destruction and arson that spreads through the narrow streets and alleyways of the town. His search for the truth brings him into conflict with several rioters and agitators, persons whose agendas endanger not just himself but also the lives and property of his friends and his fiancé.
To discover the truth behind the attacks made upon him, he journeys to London but will what he discovers there be too little and too late to avert the dark events threatening to engulf him?

Framesmith
A novel of fiction set against the backdrop of real events that took place in and around Nottingham during one week of mayhem and destruction in October 1861 and changed the political landscape of England forever.