SOLVED. Book set in England in 1800s, girl born with deformity published approx 1970/80s. [s]

[[deleted user]]

As I said the book was set in England possibly Leeds or Yorkshire in around the 1800's. It starts off with a child being born in the womans mothers house, only the mother and midwife are in the room. The father walks in to check if everything is okay, he sees the midwife standing over the new born with a pillow about to smoother the child - but he stops her. The child was a girl (named either Belle or Bella - I think!) and the reason the midwife wanted to smoother her was the fact she was deformed.

After this the mother, father and baby Belle move back to their home in the countryside. The mother then falls pregnant again and the little girl Belle is learning to walk and crawl. The father is a farmer and checks on the cows and leaves the dog outside the barn - but he gets in-between a cow and her calf. The cow pushes the father up against the wall and he dies from the pressure. The woman runs out when she hears the dog barking and finds her husband - she ends up having a miscarriage. The book then goes onto say that the woman and Belle end up living with the woman's parents. And with the parents is their two orphaned grandchildren - a boy and a girl.(The book seems to hint that the father died in a fire and could have been in a previous book as part of a series)

The grandparents seems to be in the upper middle class of wealth. When the girl learns to walk she keeps falling over - the grandparents learn that she has dislocated hip and therefore have special shoes made for her. There is a good bit of the book I don't remember but what I remember next was the orphaned grandchild (the girl) ends up falling in love with a servant/ gardener/ hired help. But they get caught by her grandparents (also I think she could have been pregnant) and plan to run away together but (I don't remember how or why) they were both shot dead (it wasn't a member of the family.)

That's the most I can remember of the book. I do remember reading that it was published in and around the 1970/80/ 90s. The book was a paper back, and was fairly big about three or four hundred pages - in kind of small font. As I said above, I think the book was part of a series, not on the one person but on a family i.e. brothers, sisters, parents etc..I'm nearly sure it is not Catherine Cookson who wrote the book.

I hope I have provided enough information - Thank you for taking the time to look at this! :)

[``Laurie]

Possibly a book by Susan Howatch?

[[deleted user]]

Laurie wrote: "Possibly a book by Susan Howatch?"

I will look into her books and hopefully its one of them :)

[[deleted user]]

@Laurie its not Susan Howatch but thank you anyway I've added a couple of her books to my list :)

[boogenhagen]

Maybe Dorothy Eden's Ravenscroft - I know DE does those types of generational stories but I don't remember the plot of this one.

Also Norah Lofts Josephine Cox and Emma Blair and Catherine Gaskin do the generational bit as well.

[[deleted user]]

boogenhagen wrote: "Maybe Dorothy Eden's Ravenscroft - I know DE does those types of generational stories but I don't remember the plot of this one.

Also Norah Lofts [author:Josephine ..."

I've had a look at some of their works and I don't see anything like the book I'm looking for, but thank you I've added a few books to read in the future :)

[Kris]

As a baby, did the problem appear to be a misshapen hip and leg(s)?

[[deleted user]]

Yes Im nearly sure she was born with one hip or leg problem

[[deleted user]]

More info:
The girl as she grew older had to wear special shoes for her hip/ leg problem.
She also went to a poorer area (maybe near where she lived or in the area) either to visit or give out food or clothes (I'm not 100%) alone but her grandfather found this out and told she was not allowed to go there alone. The grandfather told her if she wanted to go again, he would go with her or someone with her.

[Ayshe]

Maybe Erin's Child by Sheelagh Kelly?

[[deleted user]]

Ayshe wrote: "Maybe Erin's Child by Sheelagh Kelly?"

Thank you, it does sound familiar so I'm going to see if I can find a copy and hopefully its the book I'm looking for! Although I don't remember the family originating in Ireland I will give it a shot!
Thanks again:)

[Jenna]

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles also did big generational sagas but I don't know if any of her would fit this particular storyline(s) as I actually haven't read many of her works; sort of my back-burner TBR that hasn't even made it to goodreads yet.

[[deleted user]]

Jenna wrote: "Cynthia Harrod-Eagles also did big generational sagas but I don't know if any of her would fit this particular storyline(s) as I actually haven't read many of her works; sort of my bac..."

I've looked into her and its not her either, but thanks :)

[[deleted user]]

bump

[Ayshe]

Jen wrote: "bump"
Have you ruled out Erin's Child? I just skimmed the Google book preview:
https://books.google.com/books?id=z9K... and there's midwife trying to suffocate baby and the father stops her.

[[deleted user]]

Ayshe wrote:
Have you ruled out Erin's Child? I just skimmed the Google book preview:
https://books.google.com/books?id=z9K... and there's midwife trying to suffocate bab..."
Yes it is found the book and started reading it!
Thanks @Ayshe :)