Lakeland Lily
| Lakeland Lily | |
| Freda Lightfoot | |
| Magna Large Print Books (1999) | |
| Tags: | Historical Fiction |
the poverty of her Lakeland home. When the rich Clermont-Read family spoils her
plans, Lily embarks on a personal quest for revenge and marries their only son,
Bertie, a handsome indolent charmer. Rejected by his family, the young couple
soon find themselves battling against the very poverty Lily had hoped to
escape... A twist of fate brings her the freedom she craves, but the price Lily
must pay is vindictive snobbery from Bertie's mother - as well as another far
greater one, finally leading to a passionate affair with Nathan Monroe, a local
steam boat captain. Now it is Lily who must protect herself against the threat
of vengeance and decide who is more important, her husband or her lover.
Lakeland Lily
Freda Lightfoot
Originally published 1997 by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH
Copyright © 1997 and 2010 by Freda Lightfoot.
All rights reserved.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. Nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
ISBN 978-0956607348
Published by Freda Lightfoot 2010
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Lily Thorpe is a spirited, ambitious fisherman’s daughter, desperate to escape the poverty of her Lakeland home. When the rich Clermont-Read family spoils her plans, Lily embarks on a personal quest for revenge and marries their only son, Bertie, a handsome indolent charmer. Rejected by his family, the young couple soon find themselves battling against the very poverty Lily had hoped to escape... A twist of fate brings her the freedom she craves, but the price Lily must pay is vindictive snobbery from Bertie's mother - as well as another far greater one, finally leading to a passionate affair with Nathan Monroe, a local steam boat captain. Now it is Lily who must protect herself against the threat of vengeance and decide who is more important, her husband or her lover.
I am indebted to Diana Matthews of the Windermere Nautical Trust for her assistance with research and for her splendid booklets, Lake Festivals on Windermere and Lake Windermere’s Golden Jubilee. Also to her father, George Pattinson, for his excellent book, The Great Age of Steam on Windermere,
which first inspired the idea. Any mistakes or liberties taken for the sake of the story are, of course, my responsibility and not theirs. Last but by no means least, thanks to the steamboat skippers who still operate these wonderful boats from the Steamboat Museum, Windermere, who told me their fascinating history and answered my many questions while I enjoyed several delightful cruises on the lake.
T
able of Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Now read a sneak preview of The Bobbin Girls
Also by Freda Lightfoot available as ebooks
About Freda Lightfoot
1909
‘Lily Thorpe, if you don’t come in this minute I’ll batter your face with a wet kipper. See if I don’t!’
The recipient of this dire warning made no move to respond, for she was entirely engrossed in holding her breath so as not to interrupt what must be the longest kiss on record.
‘That was your mam,’ the boy said at last when nature forced them up for air.
Lily, dizzy from the kiss, swept aside her shining brown hair and laid her cheek upon Dick’s chest with a sigh of blissful contentment. For a long moment she lay listening to the rapid beat of his heart then lifted her face a fraction to give him the full benefit of her bewitching hazel eyes, glowing almost gold with desire, her tiptilted nose, and the bluntness of a deceptively demure chin which, he claimed, only proved how very stubborn she was. Lily meant to let him see that she would not be averse to the kiss being repeated.
Not, she admitted wryly, that the ash-pit roof from which strings of washing flapped, was the most romantic place in the world to experiment with these delightful new sensations. Situated at the bottom of a yard shared by half a dozen other houses besides her own, shovel-loads of ash from the fire were stored in the pit and used to sweeten the tippler privy next door.
But from its roof Lily could see beyond the huddle of narrow streets and overcrowded fishermen’s cottages that made up The Cobbles, as far as the dark green fringe of woodland that cloaked the lower reaches of the Lakeland hills, the bare tops of the more distant peaks, and, if she stood on tiptoe, the glimmer of silver-bright water that was the lake.
Beyond the lake was the world where, one day, Lily meant to be: Rydal and Grasmere to the north, the busy towns of Windermere and Kendal to the south. To the west lay the snow-capped peaks of the Langdales, while to the east were the high fells of Kentmere. These were the limits of Lily’s knowledge. She had never in her life stepped outside the boundaries of Carreckwater, though she took every opportunity to escape the pungent confines of The Cobbles, squashed as it was between Fisher’s Brow and Old Martin’s Yard, far from the more elegant quarters of the small town.
Lily hated The Cobbles and all it stood for. The sweet-sour stink of poverty gave a sense of hopelessness to the tiny overcrowded cottages. Walls ran with damp both inside and out. The alleys were infested with the kind of livestock nobody welcomed, and her mother fought a thankless daily battle against cockroaches. Each night the drunks would noisily roll home and by morning the stink of urine and vomit would be stronger than ever. Lily’s single all-pervading desire was to leave The Cobbles for good.
