Anyone who knows me, or follows me on social media, knows how much I ADORE period dramas! From Mr Selfridge and The Paradise (which both inspired the Pennington's series) to The Tudors, Downton Abbey and Poldark, I love them all!
As a complete history geek, I do not have a favourite historical period as such so I am willing to watch and read historical dramas or books set in any era - the only aspect of the stories I absolutely crave is the women's issues of the day.
And it was looking for that which inspired me to write the Pennington's series - as much as I loved Mr Selfridge, what was going on for the women always felt missing. I wanted to know more about their home lives, their aspirations and dreams. Of course, the ambition of Denise in The Paradise was something that I was entirely immersed in and became the driving force for the first book in the Pennington's series, A Shop Girl In Bath (previously The Mistress of Pennington's).
From there, I embraced female empowerment as the series theme and have since covered women's suffrage (A Shop Girl Gets The Vote), divorce in the early 20th century (A Shop Girl's Christmas) and women's survival or inner strength (A Shop Girl At Sea).
Much to my family's amazement (or annoyance) I continue to watch as many period dramas I possibly can as well as reading piles of historical fiction and non-fiction - and, of course, I class the hours spent watching or reading as research. Which they most definitely are!
Why not give the Pennington's series a try? I would love to know what you think... here's the series link on my website. Happy Reading!
https://rachelbrimble.com/books/penningtons-department-store/
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