The Dressmaker’s Daughter

Travel Guide

Welcome to the Black Country

This is quite the tour of the Black Country and of the people and businesses of Dudley. Before of after reading this novel a good stop to make would be the Black Country museum since the author is a keen local historian and researches the details of the region’s history,much of which can be seen in this museum

Dudley in 1906 is a very dark and grim place it would seem, people trudge through the dark, dilapidated streets of Dudley where the smoke of the factories sinks into people’s clothes, people’s faces and often blackens their heart.

Contrasting with this is the Castle which stands proud on the hillside overlooking much of the town and surrounding area. This historical place is in this novel a setting for celebration with fetes being held for the yearly festival. However it’s also the place were tables and marquees are set up to encourage the war effort, stations which are dotted across the town:

“In Dudley as in every other town and village, men flocked to the recruitment stations that had been hastily set up and queued to enlist in the army”

Move outside of Dudley and the atmosphere doesn’t really get much better:

“Beyond the hills of Dudley, the landscape seemed to sink into a smokey basin which was Tipton and West.”