The Long Way Home

by Jessica Blair

Lydia Middleton's future seems bright as she looks forward to marrying her childhood sweetheart, David Drayton. This match between Whitby's foremost ship-owning families is heartily approved until Mr Middleton loses his fortune and later his life, and the Draytons reconsider the whole idea.

378 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2001

About the author

My real name is Bill Spence. Jessica Blair came into being when my publisher, Piatkus, accepted my first historical saga and declared that, for various reasons, they would prefer to publish it under a female name and they suggested Jessica Blair.

I was born in Middlesbrough in 1923. I trained as a teacher but never followed the profession as war intervened. I served in the RAF as a bomb aimer doing thirty-six operational flights in Lancasters of 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron Bomber Command. After the war I was sent to Rhodesia by the RAF.

It was on the voyage to Durban that I wrote my first short story and was bitten by the writing bug. On return to England I wrote articles for newspapers and magazines and fulfilled my desire to write a novel by using some war time experiences as background.

My second book was a Western and 36 were published between 1960 and 1993. During that time two more war novels and a romance appeared in print. Along with my wife, Joan, I wrote three books dealing with aspects of Yorkshire. I started a review column in the Yorkshire Gazette and Herald and that is now in its fiftieth year.

Visits to Whitby, on the Yorkshire coast, sparked off an interest in whaling and ten years intermittent research into the subject resulted in the publication of an illustrated history. It was from this study that the Jessica Blair novels arose. The first of these appeared in 1992 and a new phase in my writing career began.

There have been twenty-five Jessica Blair novels published to date (February 2015) One more is with my publisher, Piatkus, an imprint of the Little Brown Book Group. All Jessica Blair novels are available in hardback, paperback, ebook, audio download, and Large Print.

Writing was a part-time occupation until 1977 when, with the full support of my wife, Joan, it became full-time. Throughout my whole writing career I have had her, and my four children's, unstinting support, advice, and inspiration.

Reviews

[Tumelo Moleleki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off slow but then it picked up its pace exponentially. It felt hurried as it progressed, almost like it was chopped down to curb the cost of production and thus I am giving it 3 stars.

This book carries important lessons about the nature of revenge. This young lady's obsession with vengeance was all consuming and it blinded her to the fact that it was creating a rift between herself and those she loved. Her ability to bring about this revenge was unrealistically realized in a short time and gave the impression that vengeful ideas and people are fortuitous to the realization of their dream and will thus have things going their way until they have achieved their evil intentions.

The lady's double standards were abhorrent to me and seemed to suggest a certain irrational belief that things that are evil are only so when done by others and not by herself. Her willingness to prolong the suffering of poor working people when there could be immediate relief was something unlike the nature of a woman, granted there are women that are as ruthless as men if not more so.

I don't know that I would ever want to read more of this author's books if they are in the nature of portraying women in such a light as was portrait here, being at the extreme ends of the character poles, either meek or ruthless.

I have picked up a great deal of vocabulary from reading this which is what drives me to read a book I might not enjoy to the end. I did want to see where the vengeful lady would end up and so it was not an unpleasant read.

[Cheryll · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad read but I'm not sure that Lydia made the right decision at the end! I didn't like the way the author put so many questions in the text or the way people seemed to 'speak with their eyes' all the time.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say I enjoyed this one more than Dangerous Shores but again the ending seemed a little rushed. It was a fascinating insight into the iron ore trade in the NE. I very much enjoyed the fact that it showed a woman doing well in a male dominated industry.

[Pattie]

Unfinished

[Lea Akiki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt at the end everything was rushed, but it's an interesting story.