Frost is always excited to discover a new author and our excitement was huge upon the discovery of Evie Grace. Her debut novel Half a Sixpence is a dazzling debut that remined me of the Catherine Cookson books I have loved so much. Brilliant historical fiction that draws you in and does not let you go. Even better, this is the first book in a trilogy. We can’t wait until the next instalment.
Set in Kent in the 1830s, Half a Sixpence by Evie Grace is the first in the Maids of Kent trilogy, published on 13th July. Described as Catherine Cookson meets The Darling Buds of May, Half a Sixpence marks the change in rural life on Rook Farm as the mechanisation of the industrial revolution sweeps across the countryside and changes the fate of families forever.
HALF A SIXPENCE
by
EVIE GRACE
Published by Arrow
Paperback
13th July 2017
Priced £5.99
True love sometimes comes at a price
East Kent, 1830
Catherine Rook takes her peaceful life for granted. Her days are spent at the village school and lending a hand on her family’s farm. Life is run by the seasons, and there’s little time for worry.
But rural unrest begins sweeping through Kent, and when Pa Rook buys a threshing machine it brings turbulence and tragedy to Wanstall Farm. With the Rooks’ fortunes forever changed, Catherine must struggle to hold her family together.
She turns to her childhood companion, Matty Carter, for comfort, and finds more than friendship in his loving arms. But Matty has his own family to protect, and almost as quickly as their love blossomed their future begins to unravel.
With the threat of destitution nipping at her heels, Catherine must forge a way out of ruin . . .
Evie Grace was born in Kent, and one of her earliest memories is of picking cherries with her grandfather who managed a fruit farm near Selling. Holidays spent in the Kent countryside and the stories passed down through her family inspired her to write Half a Sixpence.
She loves researching the history of the nineteenth century and is very grateful for the invention of the washing machine, having discovered how the Victorians struggled to do their laundry.
Half a Sixpence is Evie’s first novel in her Maids of Kent trilogy. Half a Heart and Half a Chance will follow.