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1909: From Yorkshire to Jamaica, the saga continues..
1909: From Yorkshire to Jamaica, the saga continues..
Jamaica 1909. Millionaire Silas Whittam is struggling to bring his dream of a luxury hotel to life. He’s relieved when his sister, Eve, arrives – basking in the success of her Yorkshire pies and puddings business. But as Eve befriends the staff, secrets hidden by Silas begin to emerge.
In England, the Earl and Countess of Netherwood try to hide their empty marriage, as they enjoy the whirlwind of the London season. Yet the Earl’s suffragette sister, Lady Henrietta, could disgrace them all.
And for new Labour MP Amos Sykes, times are tough. Especially with his wife decorating the homes of the very aristocrats he would like to see ruined.
Netherwood
Netherwood is fictional but is a mining town somewhere in Yorkshire. Yorkshire had a huge mining heritage and Selby in particular was a major centre of this. The National Mining Centre in Wakefield in Yorkshire is a must see to find out more about the heritage of this part of the world and how mining affected those upstairs and down.
Hope Bay in Jamaica is the setting for the heat and humidity of the sugar plantations and the local landscape. So markedly different to life back in Yorkshire.
The sugar estate was built in 1758 and abandoned some time in the middle of the nineteenth century, after emancipation had done for slave labour and the plantation could no longer meet its osts. There were many such places, and together they told the story of Jamaica.
“Jamaica’s ruins… They’re everywhere, resonant with sorrow, redolent of disappointment and lost dreams. Silas ran the tour from the Whittam Hotel to the old sugar estate out near Hope Bay”
Author/Guide: Jane Sanderson Destination: Yorkshire, Jamaica Departure Time: 1909
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