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Synopsis:
Since the untimely death of her husband, young mother Effie Grey has been forced to live on a narrowboat owned by her tyrannical father-in-law Jacob.
In spite of her own despair, she is determined to protect her brother Tom and her baby son Georgie from Jacob’s bullying ways – for she is all they have in the world.
But when Jacob hires the villainous Salter and his vile wife Sal to run the barge, Effie’s life becomes even more unbearable, and Tom is sent packing without a penny to his name.
Living on deck with little to shelter her and Georgie from the elements, tormented by the Salters, Effie is driven to desperation. And stealing Jacob’s hidden cache of money, she escapes with her son.
As she begins her frantic search for Tom, Effie vows that whatever happens she will make a home for little Georgie and keep him safe from harm.
About the author:
Dilly Court grew up in North-East London, but now lives in Dorset, with her husband.
She was very much influenced in her writings as a child by Enid Blyton and her imaginary friends set out on many adventures in her various stories and plays, to the amusement of her family and friends.
Her early career, was as a secretary to a commercial television company, where she then progressed to become a copy writer for television advertising.
She gave up her career to raise her children, and now that they are grown up with families of their own, she has time for her prolific writing career and her many and varied hobbies and pastimes, which all show the true family character that is … Dilly Court.
My Personal Review Of ‘A Mother’s Wish’
This is a romantic/historical saga, of life, love, treachery and revenge in the London of the late 1800s. The all too familiar story of the times, a husband who dies young, of consumption, leaving behind a widow and children, who are penniless and homeless, relying on the charity of others to avoid the last desperate journey that will take them to the workhouse.
Effie’s unscrupulous father-in-law, seeing it as his right to use her as he sees fit, as he is providing a roof over her head, regardless of the fact that he is aware that he will shortly be suffering the same fate as his son and shunning Effie’s help. She is expected to be at his beck and call any time of the day or night, without any prospect of a kind word or deed in return.
When Effie is unexpectedly thrown into the midst of the travelling fair, she is shown kindness and is treated with the same respect as everyone else. This is an overwhelmingly new scenario for her, to have both the male and female fair folk treat her with equal and unconditional thoughtfulness and compassion for her plight. She is expected to contribute to the community and do her share of the work, but is rewarded in the same way as all the others, without it being made to seem like charity and thus affording her some dignity.
“You’re all very kind”, Effie said, swallowing a large lump in her throat. She had become so used to being bullied and browbeaten by Jacob that to come face to face with such overt kindness was quite overpowering.‘
There are still strong family bonds that unexpectedly come to the fore, when Effie looses her brother and realises that her son is also in danger. It would have been so easy for her to walk away, as many other mothers of that time were forced to do, in the hope that there would be more kindness shown to a lone abandoned child, but she just cannot do it and vows to reunite her family and offer them all the protection she is able to.
Effie seems to travel in circles, to avoid the vengeful Salters, and it is difficult to believe that she never actually leaves the immediate area, so she is unlikely to avoid them for long. However, when you stop and think that walking was the only way of getting around for the majority of the working class folk, then it is hardly surprising that she never actually strays that far from all she knows.
Effie has become attached to the traveller Toby and is astounded when she is taken to the home where he grew up. The manor is a once opulent, secluded property on the outskirts of London, that has now fallen on hard times and is in a state of near collapse and dereliction, with Seymour Westlake, the resident Master who spends most of his days out of his mind on drink and drugs. Effie overcomes her revulsion at the way the last few servants are living and also how scared she is of Seymour, as practicality takes over and she puts her all into cleaning the place up, to make a home a home for herself and her son, to await the time when her brother Tom and Toby (if he is able to swallow his pride sufficiently), can rejoin them.
It becomes obvious to the perceptive Effie, that although Toby was raised as a servant, he is in fact, Seymour Westlake’s son, fathered by him and his former servant Mirella, although neither of them will admit it. Effie overcomes her natural instinct, of knowing her place in society and vows to bring both men to their senses:…
‘Seymour Westlake was an educated man who had been born into a privileged class. She was a penniless widow and the mores of society were harsh’
A predictable plot and storyline to follow, but written with great perception and emotion, bringing the characters to life, with all their varied feelings, strengths and weaknesses. Effie finds hidden strengths that she never knew she had, and uses them to motivate others to help themselves and in doing so learns new things about herself. Overcoming those deeply entrenched beliefs, about both her place in society and as a woman of the times, to arrive at a place where her views are as important as the next persons and her contribution valued by all who know her.
My Personal Rating: - 3.5 Out Of 5
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