Читать книгу The Wayward Governess - Joanna Fulford, Joanna Fulford - Страница 7

The background for this book was suggested some time ago by a visit to Cromford Mill in Derbyshire: it presented a fascinating and often disturbing insight into England’s industrial past. On the one hand the mills represented progress, on the other privation and hardship for people made redundant by machines. As the Luddite element sought to protect their livelihoods, looms, mills and mill-owners came under attack. Draconian penalties were imposed by a government already made jittery by the years of revolution in France. At the same time large profits awaited those unscrupulous enough to use the resulting conflict for their own ends. This last became an important element of the story’s sub-plot.

Unusually, the hero came to my mind first. Marcus Edenbridge is an unwilling protagonist who is haunted by the past, overtaken by events beyond his control, forced to take on a role he didn’t choose in a place he didn’t want to be, and caught up in a dangerous web of intrigue. No pressure, then. Just to keep him on his toes I introduced him to Claire, a disturbingly attractive heroine with a secret of her own.