My latest book, A Widow's Vow, is the first in a brand new trilogy set in the Victorian cities of Bristol and Bath - it is the year 1851 and Louisa Hill is married to a wealthy Bristol merchant. As a former prostitute, she is living in constant apprehension that, since her privileged existence is balanced on a knife edge, that one day it may just slice viciously without warning.
Her fear is realised when Louisa's husband is found hanged in a Bath hotel, leaving Louisa no reason for his suicide. Lost and confused, Louisa's only saving grace is that provides her with the keys and deeds to a property in Bath. Having no choice but to leave her beloved Bristol home, Louisa and her friend and companion, Nancy head to Bath.
More revelations are made and soon Louisa accepts that she and Nancy must resort to their former occupation or end up back on the streets - that cannot happen. So, once again, Louisa becomes embroiled in the world of vice but this time she owns a brothel.
Louisa is one of my favourite heroines ever - she is business savvy and resilient with a kind and caring heart. In fact, she is the perfect balm to the tortured soul of boxer, Jacob Jackson...
Jacob is a man carrying the burden of being unable to prevent his mother's murder at his father's hands. Having left home at a young age, Jacob was taken under the wing of a boxing manager who channelled Jacob's anger for the ring. When he meets Louisa in his local tavern, he senses her desperation and is intrigued by the circumstances that have brought her to the seedier side of the city.
The two embark on a journey neither could have predicted when Jacob agrees to work as her protector and brothel doorman - the remainder of what happens to this fabulous, complex couple is left for you to discover...
Blurb & Buy Links:
From grieving widow...
1851. After her merchant husband saved her from a life of
prostitution, Louisa Hill was briefly happy as a housewife in Bristol. But then
a constable arrives at her door. Her husband has been found hanged in a Bath
hotel room, a note and a key to a property in Bath the only things she has left
of him. And now the debt collectors will come calling.
To a new life as a madam.
Forced to leave everything she knows
behind, Louisa finds more painful betrayals waiting for her in the house in
Bath. Left with no means of income, Louisa knows she has nothing to turn to but
her old way of life. But this time, she'll do it on her own terms – by turning
her home into a brothel for upper class gentleman. And she's determined to
spare the girls she saves from the street the horrors she endured in the past.
Enlisting the help of Jacob Jackson,
a quiet but feared boxer, to watch over the house, Louisa is about to embark on
a life she never envisaged. Can she find the courage to forge this new
path?
A Widow's Vow is the first in a gripping and gritty new Victorian saga series from Rachel Brimble. You won't be able to put it down.
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