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Long Listed in the Historical Fiction Company competition for 2022
Dancing to Her Own Tune.
Annie White has just been freed after serving her seven years as a convict. The night of her release, she gets a visitor who will change her life.
After much hard work, her tiny baking business is finally making some profit when she’s then asked to assist another freed convict named Sam Corbett.
Exasperated, she nurses him back to health and they settle into a life together. Absolutely horrified, she discovers she’s with-child at thirty. From then on, the changes come thick and fast in their lives.
The past seems to cling tightly to them both, leading them back to England, where they face their ghosts.
Sam's past is laid bare, and he must adjust to the revelations.
Annie has yet to face her accuser. She finds the answers to the questions that have haunted her for years are not what she thought.
Their son Daniel must come to terms with their pasts before his own future can be settled.
This was Sheila Hunter's Unfinished Historical Manuscript.
She had written 37,000 words - about the first seven chapters. She stopped as she was going to kill off the main character. She couldn't do it, so stopped writing! Her plan was to actually write about the house and tell its story. I may still do that in a third book in this series. It was because of this book that I started to write my own - just to see if I could do it justice. I hope I have. I had intentionally not read her part story before I started my own. I was amazed to see how easily it was to use it as a prequel to not only my books but her own three Australian Colonial Stories too! ( see button above)
Anne White and Sam Corbett Garney are interesting characters. They are totally fictitious! No family history in this one! Due to their own tragic beginnings, they decide to assist others similarly rejected in life. After the Napoleonic Wars, Many soldiers were left to fend for themselves. Wives and daughters had to 'go on the street' to make a living for the family. Life was cruel. When Governor Darling was virtually sent home in Disgrace ( he was exonerated but never was given another post) they lived with his mother-in-law, Ann Dumaresq who worked with a Philanthropy group in London helping such people. So I have woven them in as assisting these people. Many groups did assist but the problems were so great that many overwhelmed the available assistance. Elizabeth Fry is one such amazing lady! She visited the women's gaols and took them 'care parcels'.
Inspired by their rejection Sam and Anne are determined to help whom they can.
Stowe House inspired my idea of Sam's home.
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