In the Victorian era, for many young women, going into domestic
service was a significant source of employment where they found suitable work
but with extended hours for a reasonable salary, receiving free accommodation
as well as enjoying the perks and prestige of working for the aristocracy or
other members of the upper or middle-classes.
As a matter of course,
employers had a moral obligation, but one without a legal requirement to ensure
their servants were kept clean, healthy and well-nourished. However, for one
poor girl, that, unfortunately, was not the case.
In 1896, Jude Rogers, a
wide-eyed but vulnerable sixteen-year-old from Woking, Surrey, secures a
position as a domestic servant at a large terraced house in Half Moon Street,
near London's Piccadilly. Following a brief settling-in period, she quickly
realises everything is not quite as it seems. As time moves ruthlessly forward,
what happens next is almost beyond comprehension. Jude finds herself in the
most impossible of situations and finally succumbs to the pure evil dealt out
by her employer.
This story is NOT for the
faint-hearted!
- Paperback : 234 pages
- ISBN-13 : 979-8550129265
- Dimensions : 13.97 x 1.35 x 21.59 cm
- Publisher : PublishNation/Amazon (12 Nov. 2020)
- Language: : English
- ASIN : B08M2KBMRM
- Paperback : £10.99
- Kindle £2.99
Mal Foster
Very much a self-proclaimed “writer of the ordinary man,” Mal Foster was born in 1956 and grew up in Camberley, Surrey before moving to nearby Knaphill in the late 1980s. He had left school just before his sixteenth birthday in 1972 to help support his single mother and younger brother. Around this time he began writing poetry, and indeed, his first poems were published soon after.
Now semi-retired, Mal counts his time as a local journalist as a career highlight.
Since 2015, Mal has gone on to publish five novels, from which he has enjoyed some great feedback and exposure. His latest, 'Fluke's Cradle', a psychological thriller, was published in April 2022.
Excerpt from Writing Magazine - February 2021
Some authors will tell you, there is no better feeling than receiving the proof copy of a new novel, particularly during these challenging times when many people are struggling to keep their mental health, and indeed their lives and livelihoods intact," says author Mal Foster.
"When the proof copy of my fourth book, Jude & Bliss was delivered, it was with a sense of pride and fulfilment that I gleefully accepted it from a rather bemused postman who would never have understood the reason for my excitement.
I’d been sitting on the concept of writing Jude & Bliss ever since the summer of 1994 when I first discovered the harrowing account of a young girl from Surrey who had travelled to London towards the end of the 19th century to enter domestic service. The story somehow stuck and I was inspired. This was the Victorian tragedy I knew I was always going to write… "
"When meeting readers, book-bloggers, and indeed fellow authors, the conversation often leads to a character in one of my novels. In all my books, the characters are important to me and I like to introduce them as identifiable and colourful souls without being too over descriptive. Fortunately, the feedback is usually positive, and this makes the whole writing and publishing experience worthwhile. Proof, if needed, amidst all this gloom of contagion, global stress and uncertainty, there is a certain therapy in writing."
Jude & Bliss is available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon and from www.malfoster.co.uk
from Toyah Willcox
No comments:
Post a Comment