The Riverside Maid is a compelling story of resilience, overcoming hardship, and building a better future.
The Riverside Maid by Annemarie Brear
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction (1800s), Complicated Family Drama, New Beginnings, Romance, Yorkshire
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My Summary:
Thanks #NetGalley @BoldwoodBooks for a complimentary eARC of #TheRiversideMaid upon my request. All opinions are my own.
Fliss was rescued from an Orphanage as a young child by her uncle and now lives and works at her uncle’s pub. She didn’t have a happy childhood as her aunt wasn’t kind and her cousin abused her. Fliss is an excellent worker and has a couple of close friends. One day, she meets Oscar Nolan, a tragedy strikes her family, and Fliss has a chance for a new beginning.
My Thoughts:
Likable Character
Fliss is a likable character: hard-working, smart, reliable, and kind. She has learned how to (mostly) protect herself from her cruel and abusive cousin and to get along with her cold-hearted aunt. When faced with tragedy, Fliss takes leadership and rises to meet the challenge. She’s also a trusted friend.
Strong, Independent Women
I love stories of strong, independent women, and Fliss’s story does not disappoint. She overcomes a difficult childhood in which she lost both parents. She appreciates that her uncle rescued her from an orphanage, and she has a good relationship with him. However, she also navigated a great deal of abuse from his son. When tragedy strikes the family, she takes leadership and rebuilds the business. Fliss is resilient and determined. It’s always fascinating to consider how women managed their lives in the 1800s.
#3 in the Waterfront Women Series
I haven’t read other books in the series, and I think this reads fine as a stand-alone. Although, with any series, reading them in order usually results in the most satisfactory reading experience.
Content Consideration: death of parents (in the past), physical and mental abuse, toxic family relationships
Recommending The Riverside Maid:
Fans of 1800s histfic and strong, independent, and resilient women will appreciate The Riverside Maid. Even though it’s #3 in a series, this well-written and compelling story can be read as a stand-alone.
My Rating: 4 Stars
Meet the Author of The Riverside Maid, Annemarie Brear
Author of over thirty-five novels, AnneMarie Brear has crafted sweeping historical fiction with atmosphere, emotion, and drama aplenty that will surely satisfy any fan of the genre. AnneMarie was born in a small town in N.S.W. Australia, to English parents from Yorkshire, and is the youngest of five children. From an early age she loved reading, working her way through the Enid Blyton stories, before moving onto Catherine Cookson’s novels as a teenager.
Living in England during the 1980s and more recently, AnneMarie developed a love of history from visiting grand old English houses and this grew into a fascination with what may have happened behind their walls over their long existence. Her enjoyment of visiting old country estates and castles when travelling and, her interest in genealogy and researching her family tree, has been put to good use, providing backgrounds and names for her historical novels which are mainly set in Yorkshire or Australia between Victorian times and WWII.
A long and winding road to publication led to her first novel being published in 2006.
She has now published over thirty-five historical family saga novels, becoming an Amazon best seller and with her novel, The Slum Angel, winning a gold medal at the USA Reader’s Favourite International Awards. Two of her books have been nominated for the Romance Writer’s Australia Ruby Award and the USA In’dtale Magazine Rone award and recently she has been nominated twice as a finalist for the UK RNA RONA Awards.
QOTD:
Do you enjoy 1800s historical fiction?
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Nice review, Carol. Strong, independent women are definitely a draw for me. I’m just glad I wasn’t alive in the 1800s.
We’d be strong..,I know it! I was thinking today that in a couple more decades people alive will view the 1900s like we view the 1800s! Weird to think about!
I never thought about that. I wonder what they’ll think. 🤷♀️
They won’t believe we lived without smart phones! 😂