It’s an absolute pleasure today to be featuring 76 Silver Street by Anna Shenton, a novella available as both ebook and in paperback from Amazon in the UK and US (available in the US at just 99c until 1st June), and also available for download via Kindle Unlimited.
Many of you might already know Anna as the powerhouse behind the Writers Authors and Readers group on Facebook – do join us there (I’m on the admin team too!), it’s such a friendly and supportive group, and Anna works really hard to make it that way. I was really delighted to meet Anna last year at the Book Connectors meet-up in York – and she’s every bit as lovely in real life as she always seems online.
So let’s take a closer look at the book…
76 Silver Street – A Historical Romance: Set in the suburbs of Manchester: A gritty, scandalous story of courage, passion, love, loss, lies and sexual desire.
Imagine, how it feels, to be dumped on your aunt’s doorstep by your mother. Your aunt takes you in as if her own; goes without herself, to keep you warm and safe.
Nineteen years later, in the suburbs of Manchester 1905, you become house keeper, in the next town, for a handsome young man in hope of finding true love; but find yourself being subjected to his, and his mate’s drunken, coercive behaviour.
Then one day, your aunt calls for help from her hospital-bed, to take over her rundown boarding house before it goes bust.
Such is the plight of Rosa Brown. She owes it to her aunt to help in her hour of need and sneaks off out of town, escaping the sordid life she lives, without a word to anyone.
Met by Jack Howard on arrival, in Pembertown, Rosa’s heart plummets when her eyes meet with the dingy filthy place, and Jack’s devilish manner, who thinks she’s mad and has no intention of helping to get the place up and running before it goes bust.
Rosa is shocked when faced with all the ruffians and commoners knocking on the door and struggles to keep the roguish, rampant Jack Howard’s hands off her.
Sprucing the place up and filling it with respectful paying guests, proves harder than expected.
Now, filled with fear for her aunt, and her own wellbeing, will Rosa ever find the love of her life and be free from trouble?
Apologies for the absence of a review – I just haven’t been able to find the time to read this one – but you’ll find a few lovely ones on Amazon mentioning “a variety of lively, believable characters” and that she’s “captured the true essence of life and times at the turn of the 20th Century”. With thanks to Anna, I’m delighted to share an extract:
Rosa soon had a lovely smell of soup drifting down the hallway and she could hear Jack’s boots heading back towards the kitchen.
“Scrub your hands before you sit down,” she saw the dirt lying thick under his fingernails.
And he did as he was told for once, before snatching the end chunk of bread and tearing it into two.
“We’ll start at eight o’clock tomorrow,” Rosa said softly and glanced at Jack’s face whilst she sipped from her spoon.
“It’s Sunday! I’ll do nothing on Sundays!”
“It looks like you do nothing most days,” a gentle smile lit up her faintly freckled coal-smudged face.
He couldn’t help but grin too.
“Yer look pretty when yer smile, yer should do it more of ‘en.”
Rosa felt her cheeks blush, “I’m not here to smile. Eight o’clock,” she reminded him. “And you can wash the dishes before bed,” she left the table rubbing her aching back.
“I’ve filled yer wash bowl with hot water,” Jack winked at her as she headed towards the door. Although dead on her feet, Rosa was in no rush to get back to her gloomy room, but she wasn’t telling.
The mattress was lumpy and damp, probably ridden with vermin debris. Rosa tossed and turned all night at the thought of it. All manner of questions ran through her mind. How on earth was she going to get the boarding house in full swing in such a short time?
Bedding? she sat up with a start. Where would she get fresh white linen sheets and warm blankets with so little money? Towels? Guests need clean towels. Table cloths, food, how could she afford to keep the kitchen stocked with good wholesome food? Bars of carbolic soap, she needed soap for washing and scrubbing? Soda, blue bags for rinsing, starch…? “Heck…” she listened to her own voice screech with anxiety.
If she could muster enough money for two rooms the rent would cover costs, each in turn, for the other four rooms upstairs.
Wishing you every success with this one, Anna! Let me introduce you to her – this is taken from her author page on Amazon UK.
I live in Staffordshire with my lovely retired hubby. We love to travel with our touring caravan – any country goes!! Our favourite pastimes being walking, cycling, eating and downing a bottle of wine or two. In that order. Ah, yes we do go to the gym and swim daily too whilst we are not gallivanting!
We share a fantastic family of six sons and daughter-in-law’s, and millions of adorable grandchildren. We fill the garden with veg to feed them and the toy cupboard overflows onto the bunkbeds which they each in turn sleep in with the famous big ted! Christmas is always a family affair!!
Always loved to write. Kids flown the nest! I ploughed into a home study course with the Writing School of London. Amazing stuff! Success with Star Letter Pages and Fillers for Women’s’ Commercial Magazines was encouraging. Venturing forward, my articles were soon published in Hobby publications, Practical Caravan, Caravan Magazine, Modellers World and Writers Forum International.
Poems didn’t go amiss either. Growin Owd – my pet poem – won World Book Day prize 2015 with Vind & Vag Publishing House, and, I loved writing short stories for writing group anthologies, where I used to be fund organiser.
Inspiration from life experiences, and reading other authors, helped me write Seduced by Mind Tricks (eBook and paperback), a rollercoaster yet sensual romance, my debut novel, and create short stories (Lust for Survival) – eBook – five individual female’s dilemmas), both books available now. My eBook Writing Spelled Out is devised and rewritten from my articles to help all budding authors.
Writers Authors And Readers Group is currently my passion. A layman in Facebook skills landed me with the group accidently, but hey it has turned out to be awesome. We have some fab people on there . You are welcome to join, send a request it really is inspiring!
Lovely to meet you all! Other places to find me and leave comments:
Downloading Anna Maria’s book straight after this. I love her friendliness on our FB group and I’m sure I’ll enjoy her novella too. Sounds steamy, exciting and intriguing!
Doesn’t it just, Angela? And Anna’s one of the loveliest people I know – other than you, of course!
I’ve read and reviewed this novel and awarded it five stars. Download it and judge for yourself !! You won’t be disappointed 👏👏👏
Thank you for your endorsement, Lizzie – Anna will be delighted!