Strong women, like Dorcas and Letty from The Dockyard Girls series, were important in the fishing community. They had to keep everything afloat while their men were at sea.
Women kept the home, cared for the children, managed the finances, and helped their neighbours whenever they could, in whatever way they could. The one thing they had was each other.
They were the women others turned to for help, whether it was a cup of sugar or a loan until payday, a shovel of coal, or to mind the children. To hold a hand. To listen.
There are still women like this. They may no longer wear a floral apron to protect their clothes, or sensible shoes because they’re on their feet all day – but they still exist.
They volunteer in charity shops and run friendship groups, they take people to and from the hospital, they get involved with goings on in the local area, and they belong to the Neighbourhood Watch.
They still look out for others, perhaps a little more cautiously than in times past, but if anyone is in need of help, they’ll be only too glad to lend a hand.
You probably know a few of them yourself. I hope so, for women such as this make life more bearable when times are tough.
Can you leave the past behind and embrace the future?
Great Grimsby, 1912
Newlywed fisherman Alec Hardy decides to make a fresh start with his young wife, Letty and move to the thriving fishing port of Grimsby in search of a brighter future.
But where Alec goes, so does his widowed mother, Dorcas, and she has trouble coming to terms with taking second place in her son’s life.
With Alec at sea for weeks on end, the two women clash and Letty seeks escape from her bitter mother-in-law amongst the streets of Fish Dock Wharf.
Can Letty help them break free from the shadows of the past or will she be bound by Dorcas’ insistence that they cling to the old ways?
The Dockyard Girls is available wherever you buy your books