The Low Road
English
By (author): Katharine Quarmby
Two young women. One passionate love. Will their paths ever cross again?
Norfolk, 1813. In the quiet Waveney Valley, the body of a woman Mary Tyrell is staked through the heart after her death by suicide. She had been under arrest for the suspected murder of her newborn child. Mary leaves behind a young daughter, Hannah, who is later sent away to the Refuge for the Destitute in London, where she will be trained for a life of domestic service.
It is at the Refuge that Hannah meets Annie Simpkins, a fellow resident, and together they forge a friendship that deepens into passionate love. But the strength of this bond is put to the test when the girls are caught stealing from the Refuge's laundry, and they are sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay, setting them on separate paths that may never cross again.
Drawing on real events, The Low Road is a gripping, atmospheric tale that brings to life the forgotten voices of the past convicts, servants, the rural poor as well as a moving evocation of love that blossomed in the face of prejudice and ill fortune.
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