ABANDONED. Historical Fiction Saga of woman's life

[Janelle]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a book I read back in the 80's. It was set in the UK sometime in the 17th/18th/19th century. The main character had several relationships with different guys, which all ended badly for some reason - either the guy died or left her. She had a bunch of kids, and I seem to remember her "inheriting" some extra kids too. The main theme of the story is her struggle to survive in the midst of severe poverty. She had to be really tough, and tough on her kids to keep them all alive. It wasn't the sort of book I read much, but it's stuck with me and I'm curious to know what it was called.
Thanks very much for your help.

[Janelle]

Bump bump. This must be harder than I thought it was going to be.
I can't remember much more, except...

Scenes of the heroine slaving over her land trying to grow food.
That the book covered most of her adult life and that in the end she did manage to make a decent life for herself
And that one or two of her sons (dark haired and good looking, maybe twins) turned out to be rotten blokes like their father.

[Kate]

Hi Janelle,

Don't give up hope, and keep bumping every so often. Sometimes a book is found in less than an hour, and sometimes it takes a lot longer. I had one that went several months.

[Janelle]

Thanks for the encouragement, Kate.

[Jaye]

Except for the "several relationships" part it sounds like a book that Catherine Cookson might have written. She has written so many. Rereading the first post: that's a huge time frame!

[Janelle]

Thanks Jaye. I'll look into her.
With the time frame, I just can't remember exactly when it was set, but I know it wasn't medieval and it wasn't modern.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Janelle, As Kate said, it might take a while. I had one that was only solved after almost 3 years. And I've got a few that are about that long that are still in the "unsolved" folder. But I keep hoping and bumping them periodically. As new members join you never know who is going to be the person who says, "oh, I read that, its called..." So keep the faith.

[Jaye]

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

I should have linked you earlier.

[Janelle]

Thanks Ann for your comments and thanks Jaye for the link. I had a good look. Catherine Cookson certainly wrote the sort of book I'm looking for, but I couldn't see my book on the list. So I think I'm looking for someone who wrote like her.

[Janelle]

Still looking for this book. For some reason I keep thinking the main character's name was Jedda or Jenna, but that could be completely my imagination. She had a very tough life and I remember her struggling to grow potatoes to feed her many kids.
I'm also thinking that the author must have been a feminist. There was no real romance and I don't recall any decent male characters.
Thanks for any thoughts.

[Jaye]

I'm interested in this book too as it sounds like one I would like to read.

I hope if you find out what it is you come back here and let us know !

Maybe someone will know about it here ---> http://forums.abebooks.com/abesleuthcom

[Janelle]

Thanks Jay I'll give it a try

[Jaye]

A Song Twice Over
Takes place in Victorian England.
There is a "Gemma" in this book. And over on amazon it says she has to trade "sexual favors" to exist, so that fills the "different guys" of what you remember.

I dunno, just thought I'd link you, just in case.

[Janelle]

Thanks Jaye, this book doesn't look quite right on first glance, but I'll do some research about it and the author and see what I can find out.

[CLM]

I am a huge fan of Brenda Jagger but although her heroines sometimes struggle with relationships and finances I don't recall any of them ever becoming so poor they need to grow potatoes.

[Janelle]

Thanks CLM. The main character was so poor for a time that even growing potatoes was a struggle. She often lived in poverty and to my recollection the main cause of this was the men in her life. She was the sort of character that triumphed against all the odds.

[Jaye]

The Dwelling Place

This one is that sort of book. I'm not exactly sure about the potatoes, but they had a hard time finding food.

[Janelle]

Thanks Jaye. There's a copy at my local library I can take a look at. :)

[Laura]

Maybe The Potato Factory?

[Ruth]

Could this be it?

Lucy Winchester

[Janelle]

@ Laura thanks but I don't think this is it as the book was not set in Australia.
@ Ruth thanks but I don't think this is it either. There weren't any Christian themes at all in my book.

[Janelle]

Still looking for this. I seem to remember that the twin sons who took after their rotten father both committed crimes. They may have been hung or transported to Australia for this. And the heroine, after so many years of struggling, does eventually make a decent life for herself. She doesn't marry but is successfully independent (in keeping with the feminist theme).

[Cornelia]

It has a lot of similarities to "Moll Flanders" but she wasn't so concerned for her kids.

[Janelle]

Thanks Cornelia but its not Moll Flanders

[Janelle]

Bump bump

[Janelle]

just another bump

[Tab]

Kilgoran by Elaine Crowley fits a little. Here's what I could find on it

A broad-canvas first novel that chronicles the impact of the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century on the people of the small town of Kilgoran. Katy O'Donnell, beautiful young peasant woman, is engaged to sober, good-hearted Peader Daly. But Katy is torn because she no longer loves Peader, having lost her heart to Jamsie O'Hara of the wild, irresponsible O'Hara clan. She throws Peader over and marries Jamsie, and for a long time they're happy--until Jamsie begins drinking away the family's money, and the spectre of hunger begins to loom over Ireland and over Katy and her six children. (view spoiler)[ Meanwhile, as with most Irish towns of the time, Kilgoran's economy is dependent on an English Protestant landlord--in this case, Lord Kilgoran--of whom the native Irish Catholics are tenants. Lord Kilgoran is unusually sympathetic and generous; but even before the potato blight, hard times are assured for the village by the spendthrift, careless ways of the lord's son and heir, Charles, who hates Ireland and thinks nothing of securing his present debts with his future inheritance, guaranteeing the estate's bankruptcy upon Lord Kilgoran's death. Eventually, the destruction of the Kilgoran fortune and Lord Kilgoran's suicide, the catastrophe of the country-wide failure of the potato crop, causing starvation, disease and mass emigrations, form the backdrop against which two romances are played out: the love of Peader Daly, Katy's spurned lover, and Charlotte Kilgoran, the youngest daughter of the lord; and the embattled love of Katy for her good-hearted but weak-willed Jamsie (hide spoiler)].

[Janelle]

Thanks Tab, it's possible this is the book, though not all the details match. But I cant be sure until I find a copy and check it out in more detail.

[Janelle]

It's been so long since I visited this thread that I had forgotten about Tab's suggestion. I managed to find a copy of Kilgoran on Open Library that I was able to borrow. Although it is very similar to the book I'm looking for it's not the one. There's a few details that don't match. I think there must be so many books written on this theme, it will be hard to find mine amidst the throng.

[Janelle]

Bump

[Janelle]

Bumping again. It's frustrating to remember so many details but not the actual book. I think there are too many books with the same theme.

[Kris]

Can we rule out any of these locations - England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland?

[Janelle]

No we can't Kris, I'm quite sure it was set somewhere in Britain, probably by a British author.

[Lisa]

The Famished Land: A Novel Of The Irish Potato Famine?

[Janelle]

Thanks for your suggestion, Lisa. I don't think that's it, but it is in the open library so I will borrow it and take a look.
I don't necessarily think the book is set in the potato famine, it could be but it might not. I just remember the mc slaving over her fields trying to grow potatoes while all these kids waited for her in squalor in their little hut, half starved. And it seemed like most of the men in her life were scoundrels, including her two eldest, twin boys, who were either hung or transported to Australia.

[Janelle]

No luck with The Famished Land. I had a browse and it wasn't a match. I'm fairly certain she doesn't finish the book with a fellow, its more that she is at last financially secure and all the struggles of the past are over. I think it was probably a very feminist book.
But beyond that, I did a search of the book and couldn't find any mention of her troublesome twin sons, who were a feature of my book.

[Ann]

Bump.

[Janelle]

Thanks for the bump, Ann, but I’ve pretty much given up on finding this book. There’s too many books out there with a similar theme.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

If you have zero interest in finding the book, we can move this to Abandoned. However if you are still interested, we can keep it in Unsolved. You never know when someone might come up with the correct book.

[Janelle]

Thanks Lobstergirl. While I’m not actively looking to find this book, it may as well stay in unsolved. You never know who might stumble across it.

[Kris]

Janelle (OP) left the group. Moving to Abandoned folder.