Malton: novels by Janet Farley inspired by town in 1920s and 30s

When deciding on a topic for the books, ‘A Bitter Shame’ and ‘A Bitter Recoil’, author Janet Farley thought back to tales from her parents, who grew up in the town.

Janet lives in Suffolk, but spoke of how her parents lived in Malton and North Grimston.

Her father once had a grocery shop in Wheelgate, and her mother’s family were tenant blacksmiths for centuries.

After researching the history of the town in the 1920s and 30s, Janet decided to set the novels in the fictitious village of 'Birston', set near Malton.

She said: “Malton was a fascinating place at this time, fast growing and prosperous.

“Over the previous century its owners, the Watson-Wentworths and then the FitzWilliams had undertaken work to make the River Derwent navigable from Norton to Hull.

“This enabled large numbers of goods, grown or manufactured in the area to travel by barge to Hull where they were transferred to larger vessels for the journey to London.”

A Bitter Shame by Janet Farley

She added that capital expanded rapidly and in return, goods from London were sent northwards, such as tea, glass, spices, tobacco, fabrics and wine, to “satisfy the increasingly wealthy and sophisticated residents of the area”.

“Intertwined with this ‘new trade’ was of course the ‘old trade’ - smuggling," she said.

“Huge fortunes were made as local entrepreneurs took advantage of the business opportunities created, some honest and others less so."

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The novels are set against this background and follow the changing fortunes of several people inhabiting Birston Hall and the nearby village.

They follow the story of two men who return from the Napoleonic wars having had to flee the country five years previously to avoid arrest and execution for highway robbery.

A Bitter Recoil by Janet Farley

Charles Langley, the wayward son of the Lord of the Manor of Birston, and Tom Sutton, younger son of the village blacksmith, are greeted as war heroes - their past crimes apparently forgiven.

Not everyone is pleased by their return. Ralf Welburn, a self- made businessman whose daughter Cecily was left pregnant by Charles, ruining his ambitions for her to make a socially advantageous marriage.

Humiliated and vengeful he plans to ruin the Langleys.

Cecily too plans retribution, shamed in the eyes of society, abandoned by her parents and forced into marriage with a violent bully, she is bitter and resentful at the difference in their situations.

Charles, though injured at the battle of Waterloo, is now free to enjoy his future while Cecily is tied to her brutal husband for life.

Will the past catch-up with the two men?

The books are available on Amazon Kindle.

For more information visit Janet Farley’s page on Amazon.