Book Description

Release date: January 29, 2013

ALL BETSEY DOBSON HAS EVER ASKED IS THE CHANCE TO BE VIEWED ON HER OWN MERITS, BUT IN A MAN’S WORLD, THAT IS THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN

When Betsey disembarks from the London train in the seaside resort of Idensea, all she owns is a small valise and a canary in a cage. After attempting to forge a letter of reference she knew would be denied her, Betsey has been fired from the typing pool of her previous employer. Her vigorous protest left one man wounded, another jilted, and her character permanently besmirched. Now, without money or a reference for her promised job, the future looks even bleaker than the debacle behind her. But her life is about to change . . . because a young Welshman on the railroad quay, waiting for another woman, is the one man willing to believe in her.

Mr. Jones is inept in matters of love, but a genius at things mechanical. In Idensea, he has constructed a glittering pier that astounds the wealthy tourists. And in Betsey, he recognizes the ideal tour manager for the Idensea Pier & Pleasure Building Company. After a lifetime of guarding her secrets and breaking the rules, Betsey becomes a force to be reckoned with. Now she faces a challenge of another sort: not only to outrun her sins, but also to surrender to the reckless tides of love. . . .

About the Author

Alison Atlee spent her childhood re-enacting Little Women and trying to fashion nineteenth century wardrobes for her Barbie dolls. Happily, these activities turned out to be good preparation for writing historical novels. She now lives in Kentucky.

SOURCE: PUBLISHER

MY THOUGHTS
LOVED IT

Betsey works at an insurance company as a TypeWriter Girl, typing endlessly and monotonously day after day. She dreams of a better life and more independence, something women have little hope of during the nineteenth century. Moving against convention, Betsey take a chance when she is offered a job in Idensea on the ocean, booking tours for day trippers. She has no experience but enough gumption to try anything to get out of her rut and no chance for advancement. The problem Betsey really faces is that in order to get the job, she must have letters of reference and those cannot be obtained since she has been caught forging them at work.

As she quits her job and takes a chance, traveling to Idensea and convincing John Jones that she is the perfect person to do the job. Once installed, Betsey does succeed but not without a few roadblocks and falling for Mr. Jones. There is a wide cast of characters and minor details wound around Betsey’s drive to an independent life, most of which conspire against her as a young woman with liberated mind. I felt so angry at how she was treated by the patriarchal males but heartened by the fact that she never gave up even when she really had no hope. Not that Betsey was very innocent either, she would lie, cheat and steal to get ahead although she was more a victim than victor.

While I though at first, there was no happy every after for Betsey, but she still stuck to her convictions, even though I think I would have been crushed by everything that happened to her. It seems no matter how much she tried to connive and outsmart the males, they just dominated over her with shear will and legal right. John Jones seemed to be truly in love with her but in the end, he himself, succumbed to convention and dumped her to marry for money. One point though, the girl he is marrying, ends up pregnant by another man, so in fact she is marrying down. BUT, true love does finally win at the end when John realizes his mistake before it is all to late and they do get their HEA. This should appeal to fans of Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey.

PLEASE WELCOME ALISON ATLEE TO BOOKHOUNDS

1. What is the first book you remember reading by yourself as a child?

My first grade reader. I got in trouble for reading ahead and not knowing the place when it was my turn to read aloud.
2. What are you reading right now?

I always have several books going at once, but for my serious, sink-in, cup-of-tea, it’s-all-about-the-reading reading, I just started The Sisters by Nancy Jensen.

3. How does your garden grow?

From daydream wells and typewriter bells, and jumbly words all at a row.4. What is the last thing you Googled?

Something to rhyme with “infernal.”

5. What makes you cringe?

Raw mushrooms.

www.alisonatlee.com

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