Hawksmoor

Hawksmoor #1

by Aileen Armitage

It is 1811 and Hawksmoor is a growing town surrounded by all the splendour of the northern moorland. This is the dramatic story of the people who helped it to grow. The wealthy, mill-owning Hardcastles who rule the town with an iron hand. The Stotts, poor but indomitable, who labour in the factories and scrape a living from the land. In rivalry and co-operation, love and ambition, their lives touch yet remain separate. And always new ideals clash with the ancient values.

631 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 1988

About the author

Aka Aileen Quigley, Ruth Fabian, Erica Lindley.

Aileen Armitage was brought up in Huddersfield where her father's family have lived for the past 400 years. Aileen has made use of their story, and that of the town, in her well-known 'Hawksmoor' novels - the series that has earned her a reputation as 'Yorkshire's Catherine Cookson'. After gaining a BA in modern languages, Aileen taught English for ten years. When failing sight obliged her to give up her teaching career, Aileen began writing and had many magazine articles and short stories published before she turned to longer fiction. She has since been widely published in the UK and in the USA. Aileen also lectures on novel writing for writers' seminars and is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio. She is a frequent guest speaker, especially since winning UK Woman of the Year award in 1988. In 2002 she was awarded an honorary D.Litt degree for her contribution to literature. Aileen has four grown-up children from her first marriage. She is now happily remarried to the writer Deric Longden.