Evelyn Gifford, our first-person narrator, is a lawyer in the 1920s. She is on the rebound from a relationship with a young barrister and accepts a proposal from her employer, Daniel. In the midst of this comes the General Strike and the description of coping with life in London during the strike is vivid. Evelyn is befriending a sad family where two of the kids are in trouble with the law and the mother charged for murdering her husband. Evelyn gets her ex-boyfriend to help the woman in the trial. This book has got lots of plot, lots of emotion and lots of action. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
February, 1926. The city of London is tense in the days leading up to The General Strike. Evelyn Gifford, (protagonist of THE CRIMSON ROOMS) has now qualified as a solicitor - and is one of the first women to do so - but her life remains full of conflict. Embroiled in two new cases, Evelyn finds herself encountering both sides of the strike. A young maid is accused of a stealing a letter and as Evelyn becomes involved with her family, she finds a brother deeply involved in the unions and a father whose temper threatens to destroy everything. Her other case could not be more different - an aristocrat whose husband, a factory owner and money man, claims not to be the father of her child. When Evelyn's beloved grandmother dies, her aunt takes off on a tour of India and Meredith journeys to the south of France, leaving Evelyn very much alone. But not for long - an unexpected proposal coincides with the return of a former love and Evelyn must ask herself what matters most - security or passion. She also discovers a secret hidden in her mother's past - a mystery that throws a very different light on the cases she is investigating.
Katharine McMahon was our Guest Editor in April 2010 - click here - to see the books that inspired her writing.
Katharine McMahon is the author of seven historical novels including The Alchemist’s Daughter, a Waterstone’s Paperback of the Year in 2006, the bestselling Rose of Sebastopol, a Richard & Judy Book Club selection in 2008, and The Crimson Rooms. She has taught in secondary schools, performed in local theatre and worked as a Royal Literary Fund fellow teaching writing skills at the Universities of Hertfordshire and Warwick. She lives in Hertfordshire. She relies on research to uncover connections and revelations in history which will plant the seeds for a novel - and is currently engaged, with some trepidation, in a book set during The French Revolution.
