I’m delighted to welcome Vicky Adin and her new book, Sarah’s Destiny, to the blog,
Read about Vicky Adin’s inspiration for writing Sarah’s Destiny
My inspiration stretches back well into the seventeen hundreds as I hunted for my family history. Genealogy research always turns up interesting snippets of information. A name on one document, repeated on another and linked to another often leads to the discovery of the places, people, and occupations associated with their lives. I was in for a surprise as I abandoned the direct line and drifted along another branch to twigs and leaves.
Sarah’s story was one of those sideways leaps as I searched for extra details relating to my third and fourth great-grandparents. With a love of history and genealogy, such research can provide details beyond the facts, however, there are always gaps and to me that’s where the stories lie. I love filling in the gaps.
My third great-grandfather intrigued me. In those times, several branches of an extended family and generations of a direct line would live in that same area over long periods, with the sons often continuing the father’s occupation. In this case, a daughter maintained that tradition and in keeping with the naming patterns of the day, Sarah was the third daughter to be given that name in memory of two others. She must have carried a huge sense of responsibility. Such traditions are invaluable to a genealogist, but ….
Sometimes, the information doesn’t quite add up. When my great-grandfather’s dates didn’t quite match and when his daughters broke tradition and moved away from the family, I researched the one who remained. A gut instinct told me she could well be the key to what I was searching for. And I was right. The more documents I found about her life, the more fascinated I became.
Sarah lived her life in the Victorian era from 1834 to 1907. During that time, she was to have two husbands and eight children and lost three, but her marital status and the children’s names and dates were often confusing, suggesting more to the story than the hard facts provided. She was literate and worked as a licenced victualler, a pub landlord, in her own right, just like her father. She was, without doubt, loyal, determined, and defied conventions. But what was she really like? That is the one question genealogy research will never answer, especially that far back. That is where a writer’s intuition takes over.
Next came the historical research about Bristol, where she lived and worked her entire life. In its heyday Bristol was a progressive and prosperous city that sparked my curiosity. I’d never been to Bristol so I used Google Earth to ‘wander’ down the same streets that Sarah would have done. I found the pub, one among many, where she’d grown up beside the Welsh Back and where bars and restaurants still dot the landscape today, just as they were in her day. I love the fact that the core of England never changes. Some new buildings and some road realignments but in essence what Sarah knew, I could view.
A ‘back’ is a Bristolian word for a wharf and the Welsh Back is the cobblestone street running along the length of the famous floating harbour built in 1809. That is where the trows, (specially designed boats with folding masts to get under the low bridges) from Wales came across the notorious Bristol Channel and tied up to unload their wares.
The more I looked into Bristol’s history, the more I realised the city itself had a story to tell. So too, her lover.
I took Sarah’s facts and the spirit of Bristol and recreated her life. I filled the gaps, taking into account Bristol’s unique words and dialect and all the numerous and wonderful Victorian revelations, the likes of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management and the serialisation of Dickens novels, the completion of the Bristol Suspension Bridge and so much more. We can never know exactly what people said, how they behaved, or what they thought, but understanding the mores and laws of the time offers a likely premise.
Sarah’s Destiny is inspired by a true story, the facts guided her time frame, and the history embellished the storyline, but Sarah’s soul captured my imagination.
Here’s the blurb
Young Sarah Daniels is the heart, soul and future of The White Hart Inn on the Welsh Back. Alongside the quay and wharves on Bristol’s floating harbour, she dreams of finding love, and a destiny where she can escape the drudgery and tragedy that life usually delivers Victorian women. But dreams are free, and few share her ideals. When reality strikes, and Sarah learns the hard way that life is unkind, one man offers her hope.
Through many decades of heart-aching loss, false promises and broken dreams, the young widow clings to that one hope. With six children to care for, she takes risks few others would consider. She breaks conventions and makes sacrifices to keep that hope alive.
Will her wishes come true, or is she destined to be another unfortunate in the sea of many?
Any Triggers: Grief, abuse, attempted rape (gentle)
https://books2read.com/u/3LPag7
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Meet the author
Like the characters in her books, Vicky has a passion for family history and a love of old photos, antiques, and treasures from the past. After researching the history of the time and place, and realising the hardships many people suffered, Vicky knew she wanted to write their stories. Tales of love and loss, and triumph over adversity. Her latest release, Sarah’s Destiny, Book 1 of The Ancestors series, is inspired by a true love story set in Bristol.
Vicky particularly enjoys writing inter-generational sagas, inspired by true stories of early immigrants to New Zealand, linked by journals, letters, photographs, and heirlooms.
She’s an avid reader of historical novels, family sagas and women’s stories and loves to travel when she can. She has a MA(Hons) in English and Education. Her story of Gwenna won gold in The Coffee Pot Book Club Women’s Historical Fiction Book of Year in 2022 and several of her books carry the gold B.R.A.G medallion.
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/vicky-adin
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