Publisher's Synopsis
An unforgettable saga of two very different families living through the dramas and tragedies of 1920s England With the Great War still raw in the memory and a living wage becoming ever harder to find, the 1920s are not proving a bright new era for the Geordie mining families of Whitton Grange. As her mother's bad chest worsens, young Louie Kirkup worries that she is doomed to become a spinster drudge, forever at the beck and call of her pitmen father and brothers. Until, that is, she sees "Red" Sam Ritson climb into the boxing ring at the Durham Miners' gala. But Sam is hardly an ideal husband - he is wedded to his fight to maintain his fellow-miners' rights against the ruthless encroachments of pit-owner Reginald Seward Blackett. Louie knows life with Sam will be dominated by a struggle against those more powerful than him. As the General Strike looms and Louie tries desperately to make a family home for Sam and their longed-for child, her fears prove to be well founded...
