Betrayal

Christine Purkis

Novel centred on a headstrong working-class girl in 18th-century north Wales. Peggin is a maid for the infamous Ladies of Llangollen, a real gay couple who moved in the literary circles of Byron and Wordsworth, and her brother Joe is involved the building of Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Acqueduct.

ISBN: 9781800993198

Price: £9.99

Department: Fiction, History

Format: Paperback

Language: English

No. of pages: 327

More information

Reviews

This is a difficult story brilliantly told. Aggie/Peggin is a tour-de-force of character flaws, her slang and vernacular singular. The reader immediately understands that her willingness to cut off her own nose to spite her face is an intractable entrenched quality that she might not overcome. This is Georgian fiction at its finest, as it is not about the aristocracy—this is about the everyman, the building-up of small communities over time, and how young women like Aggie/Peggin must bend to the will of the world or suffer. And suffer she does, for she is unwilling to bend. Highly recommended. - Katie Stine, Historical Novel Society

Christine Purkis' first novel was a rollicking good read, the larger than life yet grounded in the truth adventures of Jane Evans, renowned as Wales' first female drover. Purkis has returned to an historical theme in her second novel, Betrayal, and once again, the reader follows an energetic and compelling young woman through a world which excludes her. The research which so enriched Jane Evans is once again on display: Purkis has a real flair for using period detail to create a world without baffling the reader with irrelevant colour.
This is honest and unsentimental writing many historical novelists would do well to emulate... a highly enjoyable book which merits comparison with thoughtful novels set in the past such as Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent or Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist. Those picking up Betrayal in search of a ripping yarn will not be disappointed but there is also much in Purkis' writing which engages the reader at a different level and encourages a deeper appreciation of the history of Wales. - Myfanwy Alexander, Nation.cymru

Blurb

"There's goodness in you, Peggin, but you keep it so well hidden, it might as well not be there."

Abandoned by her family and abused by those charged with her care, Peggin struggles to understand or repay kindness. Taken in by the renowned Ladies of Llangollen in 18th-century north Wales, she eventually finds her long-lost brother overseeing the building of Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Acqueduct. But Peggin's mission to carve a better life for herself leaves a trail of pain in its wake - not least for herself.

Betrayal comes in many forms in this moving tale of the trials of one family over 25 years.

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