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1910: The show must go on….
1910: The show must go on….
With the disappearance of her mother and the sudden death of her father, Lena instantly loses any security she has within the circus she has known all her life. She is advised to sell the carousel her father cared for like a child and look for a husband, or a job in a factory.
Until flame-haired Violet, known to all in the fairgrounds as ‘the greatest trapeze artist that ever lived’, suggests they go it alone with their own, all-female act. With her outspoken ways and her refusal to marry, Violet is as much an outcast as Lena. What do they have to lose? Recruiting new performers including bareback horse-rider Rosie, on the run from her abusive father, and Carmen whose rainbow ribbons hide the darkness in her past, the four women form an unbreakable bond.
Thrust into a harsh and dangerous world that treats them with suspicion, disdain and even violence, they must forge their own path in search of freedom, security, and love.
Vinegar Hill
Vinegarhill was a location in Glasgow, Scotland, that served as place for travelling communities from all over the United Kingdom and beyond to come and live and do business. The site is now occupied by the Forge Retail Park.
The author was keen to write this story after having found some photos of her ‘Great Aunt Violet” who had spent many years in a circus as a performer. She and others liked her travelled around Scotland during the Edwardian era.
There are several other locations apart from Glasgow in the book 0f Denny, Stirling and Blairgowrie to name but three but the main one is Glasgow.
Destination/location: Glasgow Author/guide: Emma Cowing Departure Time: 1910
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