Product Description

For twelve-year-old Mary Ann Clark life has always been tough. The pretty daughter of a wife-beating drunk, it is no surprise that she has grown up afraid of her own shadow. That is until 'Battling Bessie Ruddick' takes the young girl under her wing and into the heart of her bustling family.

Growing into an attractive young woman, Mary Ann yearns to be loved and when her affection for Bessie's son, Dan, is finally returned she becomes a skipper's wife. But the arduous life aboard ship is clearly not for her and only the arrival of a daughter, Lizzie, seems to hold the marriage together. Yet, tragically, the family is torn apart when Mary Ann is seduced by the promise of a happier life.

Although bewildered by her mother's disappearance, it is now up to Lizzie to help her father. For she, unlike Mary Ann, has inherited Dan's love of the river. But then, disturbingly, her life starts to follow the same pattern as her mother's....

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #236772 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 9999 pages

About the Author
Born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Margaret Dickinson moved to the coast at the age of seven and so began her love for the sea and the Lincolnshire landscape. Her ambition to be a writer began early and she had her first novel published at the age of twenty-five. This was followed by thirteen further titles, including Plough the Furrow, Sow the Seed and Reap the Harvest which make up her Lincolnshire Fleethaven trilogy and her most recent novels, The Fisher Lass and The Tulip Girl.. Married with two grown-up daughters, Margaret Dickinson combines a busy working life with her writing career.

Customer Reviews

A good read
Its a story where as in life history repeats itself. Women falling to the charms of handsome men, and their promises. The writer seems to know a lot about people that work and live on the river. Its a story about different classes. The story starts in 1919 and goes through to the end of the 2nd World War. It is also about working class women in particular looking out for each other. I cant wait to start on another one of Margaret Dickinson's books.

Excellent! Just discovered this authors work.
Having just moved to the area where Margaret Dickinson has her latest novel, it has certainly given me an insight as to what life was like for the fisher folk of Lincolnshire.

I was drawn into the lives of the characters from the begining, and found it spellbounding. I could not put this book down.

The story shows the lives of ordinary folk and the gentry when their paths cross, and I found myself feeling sorry for Mary Anne, and could understand how she felt. I could not blame her for the way she manipulated and schemed to gain herself a better life.

This book is a must for anyone who enjoys romance and drama. I can not wait to discover the joys of the authors other novels of Lincolnshire sagas.