But if Harwich itself is dizzying, that’s nothing to Louise’s new ‘family’. Her country eyes are overwhelmed at first by the tall houses, the winding streets, the forest of masts in the harbour and the crude exuberance of the seamen who throng Harwich’s taverns and ogle its women during their shore-leave. He offers her an astonishing promotion: to come back with him and be lady’s maid to his daughter Rebecca.įacing down Susie’s jealousy, Louise accepts and exchanges a comforting, familiar world for a strange new existence in town. One day, as Louise makes butter, she is interrupted by her master’s brother, Captain Handley, who is visiting from his house in nearby Harwich.

The two sisters are both acutely aware of the need to do well for themselves, in contrast to the example of their mother: a slovenly woman with a shameful past, who brought them both to the farm in hopes of giving them a better future than herself, and who now labours in the fields while her two daughters learn gentler trades. She takes care with her work and her reputation, hoping to be well thought of by her employers, and yet envying the easy confidence of her sister Susie, a housemaid. Louise is a dairymaid at the farm of the Handleys, in the middle of the Essex countryside. Give them a wide berth if you wish the course of your life to run smooth. Their stories are tall, their manners are rough, their desires unruly. Beware of men young and old, but especially those of the sea. It’s the author’s first novel, but is already deft and assured, and the narration has an authentic early 18th-century period rhythm.īeware of men, my mother had always told me. It has turned out to be an intriguing historical adventure through desire and identity, a clever interweaving of two tales of losing and finding oneself, all spiced with the salt of the sea air.

This was recommended to me on Goodreads or Amazon some time ago, and its elegant cover lodged itself in my mind.

She Rises by Kate Worsley