Ashes on the Moor
Series: The Proper Romance Victorian Series, Book 1
By: Sarah M. Eden / Narrated By: Justine Eyre
Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
NOT part of a series! …but what an Excellent Stand Alone!
Life is looking pretty dadgummed bleak to Evangeline Blakely. On the day she’s buried most of her entire family, she’s separated from her one surviving sister. This after being dragged from the family home where all have died, this after being taken to the fusty and fuliginous town of Smeatley in northern England.
She is denied any of her inheritance; she’s suddenly to earn her keep and prove her worth by becoming the town schoolteacher. And oh—even tho’ she’s of upperclass birth, she’s to keep mum about her relationship to her Aunt and Uncle, the town upper crust who run the factory and who sneer at all below. Which is kinda sorta good for Evangeline, cuz everybody haaaaaates the Aunt, and they haaaaate the overseer in the factory, a place they only HAVE to work due to increasingly limited options.
Evangeline finds herself having to get creative, make do, or make bargains…
Dermot McCormick, the crotchety brick mason who’s raising his son all alone, is grouchy yes, but he’s learned to be defensive. There’s no love for the Irish in England, and he’s had to put up with slights and insults, and he too has had to earn his reputation among the folk of Smeatley. Still, when Evangeline needs help, he’s there for her, and sloooowly Ashes on the Moor becomes a satisfying journey.
Romance, yup. But this starts off as two outsiders learning to trust each other, to lean on each other, to act as good friends for each other. Slowly built, author Sarah M. Eden relies on actions, and plenty of them, to show us that both heroine and Hero are worth our time and effort. This is, after all, 10+ hours, so it’s exACTly the kind of Historical Romance I like, where a fair amount of research is on full and heady display. This, my friend, is a fairly gritty tale, where life on the Moors is tough, there’s always a plague to wipe out one’s livelihood (Say, sheep!), and there’s a factory where slave hours are met with a pittance for pay, and it’s all rounded off with dePLORable working conditions. Nobody wants to work there; the people of the town and its environs are used to wide open spaces, and they’re used to their own strict ways. But Time waits for no one, and Progress comes at a heavy price.
Justine Eyre is absolutely magNIFicent. I always like her, tho’ I know she has a rhythm to her speech that can put off many a listener. I’ve found her to be an acquired taste as the first audiobook of hers had me ready to claw m’ ears off. But soon I grew to appreciate the cadence, and boy! how soon did I realize she can knock it outta the park with dialogue, esPECially when there are plenty of accents flying back and forth within a conversation. Here, I actually re-checked my Title Details page to see if there was an additional male narrator because her voice for Dermot was sooo good. He grew on me, depth was developed, and I felt such a sense of wonder that I felt myself swooooning, for freaking Justine Eyre… uhm, as Dermot… seriously! Then too, here the accents of the children and townsfolk are a major source of their sense of identity as northerners; they’re used to southerners coming up and trying to shame them, change the way they speak. And as they’re slowly losing their identities as country folk in danger of losing an entire way of life, boy do they cling to what they have left of their dignity. Rousing, yes, but what’s this: A tear or two as well? Grand job, just well done, Ms. Eyre!
At first I was chucking another Sarah M. Eden title for my Week’s Listening, but then I was made aware that this was the first in the series. But I think the whole series thing should NOT have this, Ashes on the Moor, as part of it. This book, the story has NOTHING to do with Penny Dreadfuls, the crime and adventure novels of the day. Dunno why it’s listed as being the first of ANYthing as it stands alone.
Nope, this is fully-formed in and of itself, a thoroughly enjoyable Listen, with finely-crafted characters, each of whom became dearly loved as the story progressed. Throw in a really good narration, and brother? sister? I’m all for the NEXT Sarah M. Eden!!!
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