It's no secret that I'm a HUGE fan of Maggie Mason's books so I was thrilled to be asked to take part in the blog tour for her latest release, Blackpool's Angel.
Life is happy and good for Tilly, who lives in a comfortable home in Blackpool with her husband Arthur and their four-year-old twin girls, Babs and Beth. Arthur has a good job, her girls are doing well at school, she has good friends and she makes a little extra money for the family by weaving and selling wicker baskets. However, one day Tilly and the girls return home to find a policeman waiting on their doorstep, her beloved Arthur has been involved in an accident at work and has fallen to his death whilst working on the construction of Blackpool Tower.
Tilly is distraught but she knows that she has to pull herself together and think about what she can do to earn enough money to keep a roof over what's left of her family's heads and food on the table. Life is tough for Tilly and her decisions aren't always good ones for various reasons and some of them have devastating consequences.
I always know that when I read one of Maggie Mason's books I'm going to be put through the proverbial wringer and Blackpool's Angel was no exception! I was already heart broken by the end of the first chapter and I had a lump in my throat on more than one occasion as I followed Tilly on her journey. She had a heart of gold, always looking out for others and caring more about them, when at times she should have been putting her own health and well-being way before that of others. I wanted to reach into the pages of the book just to give her a hug and tell her to stay strong as things were bound to get better for her soon.
As always Maggie has done a tremendous amount of research for this book, for example, I had no idea that someone who hails from Blackpool is known as a Sandgronian, and I was fascinated to read about the craft of basket weaving despite the fact that it's not something that I'd ever given any thought about before. Having been to Blackpool a few times, I really enjoyed being given a glimpse of what life was like there before the birth of The Golden Mile but no matter how hard I try, I still can't manage to picture it without all of it's twinkling lights! That's no reflection of the writing, it's just to me sparkling lights and Blackpool are one and the same.
Blackpool's Angel is a truly magnificent start to another trilogy from this exceptionally talented author and I honestly can't wait to find out what's coming next for Tilly and her family and friends.
If saga novels and, or historical fiction are your thing I would highly recommend that you get yourself to your nearest library, bookshop or log into your preferred online bookseller and get yourself acquainted with this fabulous authors books, I promise that you won't regret it!
You can follow the blog tour for Blackpool's Angel with these fantastic blogs:
With kind thanks to author Maggie Mason for my spot on the blog tour and to publisher Sphere for the review copy.
