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Family of Women
1950 - "Seven year old Carol Martin lies encased in an iron lung, struck down by the killer disease, polio. Distraught at her side, her mother, Violet, wonders if this is her punishment - for Carol is the love child who should not have been born...."
"Family of Women" is the story of three generations of women:
Bessie: scarred by a childhood of poverty in the slums of Victorian Birmingham and left a young widow with four children, is a hard, bullying woman who will go to disturbing lengths to keep her family under her thumb.
Violet: one of Bessie's four children, marries young to escape, into the arms of a man whose life will be broken by war,
Linda: grows up on a large housing estate in the 1950s with older sister Joyce and her beloved young sister Carol. Intelligent and energetic, she craves education and something more than the life she sees around her. Torn from her longed for place at the grammar school, she gives up hoping for anything better. It takes a tragic love affair to make her question the limitations of her life and the secrets which haunt her family.
Spanning more than half of the last century, "Family of Women" is a story of one family - and of the joys, struggles and changes in women's lives.
"Family of Women" is the story of three generations of women:
Bessie: scarred by a childhood of poverty in the slums of Victorian Birmingham and left a young widow with four children, is a hard, bullying woman who will go to disturbing lengths to keep her family under her thumb.
Violet: one of Bessie's four children, marries young to escape, into the arms of a man whose life will be broken by war,
Linda: grows up on a large housing estate in the 1950s with older sister Joyce and her beloved young sister Carol. Intelligent and energetic, she craves education and something more than the life she sees around her. Torn from her longed for place at the grammar school, she gives up hoping for anything better. It takes a tragic love affair to make her question the limitations of her life and the secrets which haunt her family.
Spanning more than half of the last century, "Family of Women" is a story of one family - and of the joys, struggles and changes in women's lives.
- GenresFictionContemporary
520 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2006
24 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
About the author
Annie Murray
51 books167 followersAnnie Murray was a ‘childhood writer.’ Her career was helped a great deal by belonging to Tindal Street Fiction Group in Birmingham and by winning the SHE/Granada TV Short Story Competition in 1991. She has published short stories in a number of anthologies as well as SHE magazine. Her first regional saga, Birmingham Rose appeared in 1995 and reached the Times bestseller list. She has since published more than a dozen others, including the ‘Cadbury books,’ Chocolate Girls and The Bells of Bournville Green, Family of Women and her latest, A Hopscotch Summer. Annie has four children and lives near Reading.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 6, 2014
3.5 stars
This is a family saga about three generations of women set in Birmingham UK during the 1940's - 1960's. It is told from three POV; Bessie (nan), Violet (mum) and Linda (daughter). Each woman has a tale of hardship and joy, love and hate, and family ties.
A frank and plain-spoken tale of hard times told with warmth and feeling.
This is a family saga about three generations of women set in Birmingham UK during the 1940's - 1960's. It is told from three POV; Bessie (nan), Violet (mum) and Linda (daughter). Each woman has a tale of hardship and joy, love and hate, and family ties.
A frank and plain-spoken tale of hard times told with warmth and feeling.
March 15, 2013
This is an amazing book. Annie Murray has an awesome way of getting you really feeling for the characters in her book and when you have finished you feel you have been on a journey. Anyone who likes the type of writing would absolutely adore this book. And you could read it over and over.
January 9, 2018
Couldn't put this one down. Annie Murray enthrals you with her tale telling.
September 10, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and getting to know all the characters. Ending was superb!!
February 16, 2019
Iv read a lot of Annie Murray’s books but this one I started and kept picking it up and then putting it down again. Just couldn’t get on with this book,
August 1, 2022
Annie murray has written another brilliant story. Would highly recommend this.
June 2, 2024
An enjoyable family saga, although harrowing at times needed to explain the hard times of working class people.
August 4, 2025
I know this book was about life for women pre Second World War during and after however I found it a very depressing story.
June 9, 2015
What an amazing writer Annie Murray is. I have read a number of her books and have not been disappointed once. This story is part of a saga which en captures the life of many Bessie who has been left a widow and is rearing four children this tells of their struggles, love and hates which all have repercussions on their lives. Don't miss this one.
September 13, 2016
This is the first Anne Murray book I have read and must say I was totally hooked throughout. I loved the characters, the details and it has made me want to read more novels set in pre war and post war times.
December 25, 2013
3 generatie , 3 andere tijden .... leerrijk !
September 8, 2013
Great characters and story line. Bought from Woolworths for $4.50.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews