Why a Booktrail?
1846: You wouldn’t suspect it, but scandalous secrets are being kept on Blythswood Square…
The Secrets of Blythswood Square
What you need to know before your trail
1846. Glasgow is a city on the cusp of great social change, but behind the curtains, neighbours are watching, and rumours of improper behaviour spread like wildfire on the respectable Blythswood Square.
When Charlotte Nicholl discovers that the fortune she has been bequeathed by her father is tied up in a secret collection of erotic art, she is faced with a terrible dilemma: sell it and risk shaming her family’s good name or lose her home.
An encounter with Ellory Mann, a talented working-class photographer newly arrived in Glasgow, leads Charlotte to hope she has found not only someone who might help her, but also a friend. Yet Ellory is hiding secrets of her own – secrets that become harder to conceal as she finds herself drawn into Charlotte’s world.
As the truth begins to catch up with both women, will it destroy everything they’ve fought to build – or set them both free?
Locations
Reset- Scotland - Edinburgh
- A: Calton Hill
- B: Canongate Kirk
- C: Walter Scott Monument
- Scotland - Glasgow
- D: Blythswood Square
- E: St Enoch Sq
- F: Glasgow Green
Travel Guide
Edinburgh and Glasgow
Edinburgh
“Edinburgh is nothing if not green. Even in the old town, the vertiginous backs on the north side run down to the old waterline peppered with goats and a variety of ancient trees. In the New Town almost every street has a green pocket in which residents may promenade.”
Glasgow
“Ellory can place Glasgow on a map. As a child at Revered Reeds, she pored over the atlas of Scotland, taking in the details of her mother’s hometown. She knows there is a seminary for Free Kirk Ministers beyond the river at Rutherglen. And futher still a a grand estate called Castlemilk that makes her think of milk and honey.”
Booktrailer Review
Oh if it’s gripping, insightful and well researched historical fiction you want, then Sara Sheridan is your woman! This book is SO rich with scene setting, rich details of time and place and the horrors of being a woman in a male dominated society.
Ellory wants to be a photographer. Charlotte doesn’t want to marry. Two women’s lives which will be changed due to their strength, determination and friendship. Add to that a lost and troublesome collection of erotic art and a passion for photograph as the industry is just flourishing and advancing and you have a complex, yet utterly fascinating look into society at the time. Society that women had to change to work for them.
The writing is sublime!
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Secrets of Blythswood Square
Destination/location: Glasgow, Edinburgh Author/guide: Sara Sheridan Departure Time: 1846
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