Read in 2016 - 28: The Black Thread

"The Black Thread" was the last book in the trilogy "Yorkshire Grit" by Margaret Muir. I liked both the first ("Sea Dust") and second ("Through Glass Eyes") a lot, and was very much looking forward to the third book.

I was not disappointed! Again, the author's writing about real places and people who seem real and have real problems, with enough detail to set the inner cinema in motion but not so much as to make the story too lengthy, enough emotion to make you feel for the characters but not so much as to be cheesy, a stringent story line and a pace just fast enough to make things happen but not too fast for a tired reader to lose track - all this makes "The Black Thread" a good read.

As I read on my kindle usually only on my way to and from work, I found myself looking forward to those train trips, so that I could read on and find out what happened next.

The story takes place mainly within a few months in the year 1898. Amy Dodd is a girl raised by her mother in a poor working-class neighbourhood in Leeds, never knowing her father or why he is not with them, until the day he reappears in their lives.

Things take a turn for the worse - much worse -, and after her mother's death, Amy is forced to flee the only place she knew as home for all her life.

Chased by her father and with the clothes she is wearing as her only possession, she faces an uncertain and dangerous future.

The canal with its many boats, transporting goods through the country and all the way to the big sea harbours, appears to be her best bet to get away from the town as far away as possible.

Will she succeed in escaping the dreadful life her father seems to have destined her to, and survive long enough to make a better future for herself?

Once again, as with the first two books, a lot of what happens in this story I did not foresee. Amy's desperation, her actions and thoughts, ring true; so do the other characters. How Amy's greatest enemy is dealt with in the end is, in a way, similar to what happens to the Bad Guy in "Through Glass Eyes". But it is still plausible and fits the story well.

I also liked a lot how things were wrapped up in the end.

Another recommendation for you! And if you want to read more about the book on the author's blog, the link is here.