It’s 1911 and, against her mother’s wishes, quiet New Yorker Emma dreams of winning the right to vote. She is sent away by her parents in the hope distance will curb her desire to be involved with the
growing suffrage movement and told to spend time learning about where her grandparents came from.
Across the Atlantic – Queenstown, southern Ireland – hotelier Thomas dreams of being loved, even noticed, by his actress wife, Alice. On their wedding day, Alice’s father had assured him that adoration comes with time. It’s been eight years. But Alice has plans of her own and they certainly don’t include the fight for equality or her dull husband.
Emma’s arrival in Ireland leads her to discover family secrets and become involved in the Irish Women’s Suffrage Society in Cork. However, Emma’s path to suffrage was never meant to lead to a
forbidden love affair…
Publisher’s link Amazon UK Amazon US
Waterstones
Author Bio
Maid of Steel is Kate’s first full length novel to be published. She also writes short stories and is presently drafting a second novel.
She writes at a desk covered in to-do lists and lights candles in the hope the lists disappear in the shadows.
She lives in East Anglia in the UK with her husband where they attempt to look after farmland for generations to come.
A small, very small, dog can be frequently found on Kate’s lap. Otis is her first miniature dachshund.
Twitter Instagram Facebook Website
My thoughts: I loved Emma, she has suffered a terrible loss with the death of her brother and then after the factory where she works catches fire, in a manner similar to the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, she loses her best friend too.
Sent to Ireland, where her grandparents emigrated from, to recover from her grief, she looks into her grandmother’s stories and becomes involved in the suffrage movement, as she was in New York.
I didn’t really warm to Alice, she’s cruel and capricious and treats Thomas appallingly, while there are reasons to some of her behaviour, it’s not enough. Although she thankfully redeems herself somewhat later on.
Both women’s lives intertwine as they live in Alice and Thomas’ hotel and as Emma extends her stay, having made new friends and become very involved in the fight for the right to vote. There are some sad moments and some shocking twists too, as both women try to live their lives on their own terms in a time when stepping outside of convention could be almost impossible.
Giveaway to Win a signed copy of Maid of Steel, candle and lipsil (Open to UK Only)
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own
***Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The
winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by
Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources
reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal
data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared withthird parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway
organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will
delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize. ***
ramblingmads 