The Joiners Secret — Anne Booth

Joseph Freeman was an unlucky man, or so he thought. Leaving behind a series of ill-fated events, and with his wife Esther and daughter Mary, he left his birthplace near Halifax and went to Hyde to make a new start in life as a joiner. Looking after his daughter whom many called an 'idiot' was never going to be easy and once more he found himself in turmoil; the perpetrator of a brutal attack, and running away to escape his problems. Arriving in the Rossendale Valley, Joseph was to experience both joy and sadness, but ultimately, after Esther's death, his inability to cope with his daughter forced him to abandon her to the harsh conditions of the workhouse. Joseph found solace with a new wife, but eventually his selfish needs and his deep-seated anxieties about his first family encouraged his wanderlust; so he left his second wife, pregnant with his child, to take over a boarding house in Buxton. He would eventually meet up again with Mary, but their life together would never be a happy one, both having secrets which gnawed at their emotions, leaving behind resentment and bitterness. Would Joseph's secret ever be told? This story tugs at the emotions, being a narrative of unresolved guilt, leaving the reader wishing that things could have been different. This moving story is the sequel to A Tragedy Too Far, the author's first novel and is once more inspired by characters within her own family.