Action adventure/paranormal that explores the Pottery Riots of 1842.
STOKE-ON-TRENT, England – In Margaret Moxom’s paranormal-historical novel, “Footsteps in the Past”. A nurse, named Jane, finds herself whisked back into 1842 after seeing a ghostly figure running away from the Ash Hall Nursing Home, where she works.
In order to find out why she has been sent back in time, and to find out who the ghostly figure was, she attends Chartist meetings — the Chartists campaign for six parliamentary reforms to free the workers from slavery, and to get the vote for the common people — and follows the rioters, putting herself in peril. She witnesses the pottery riots and gives a first-hand account of the riots, the degradation of the pottery workers, what the area looked like in 1842 and the utter differences between the rich and the poor at the time.
Will Jane survive theme Pottery riots, will she get back to her own time and will she find the story behind the ghostly figure. You will have to read to find out.
This is a history of the area that is not widely known and I believe readers will be interested to know their own history. I have tried to wrap fiction around fact to try to bring the history of the time to life. Also, a plaque was erected in Burslem in 2018, by the war memorial, to commemorate the killing of Josiah Heapy in the Pottery Riots.”
The front cover is my own painting of the riots, in Burslem.
Available at Amazon.com.uk, or email me at Maggiemoxom@aol.com
Footsteps in the Past https://amzn.eu/d/2LtH2du
Review:
It is an enchanting story which became more gripping as you read on. It is an historical fantasy that is set in Ash Hall, which in the past was the palatial residence of Job Meigh. In the present day however it is a nursing home. Some years ago I visited Ash Hall as my family were looking for somewhere where my mother could be cared for as she had suffered a devastating stroke.
The building oozed history and atmosphere, which comes out clearly in the book. I enjoyed it very much mainly because the locations were familiar to me, as I had lived in the area all my life.
I don't usually read novels, so this one has been the exception.
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"Footsteps in the Past - The Secret".
This is a follow-up to Footsteps in the Past, taking the main characters, Jane and John, onto 1883 and a coal mine disaster, in Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent, in which their son is involved. While nursing her John back to health, after he suffered a heart attack trying to rescue their son, Jane reminisces what has happened over the past 39 years, including the coming of the railway, the deplorable state of the hospital and workhouse infirmary, leading up to the initial employment of trained nurses. All this takes place while awaiting to see if their son is alive or not. The story has a necessary paranormal/ghost element but all historical events are factual.
The front cover is my own painting
This novel is available at Amazon.co.uk or through me at maggiemoxom@aol.com.
Footsteps in the Past - The Secret: The Secret https://amzn.eu/d/6BZbfeA
Review: 5*. I bought this book for a Mother’s Day present for my mother in law, she thoroughly enjoyed reading it, brought back lots of memories for her, I would recommend this book, well done Margaret
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"Footsteps in the Past - John's Story"
This is the third and last in the series. The book follows John, through his childhood in the 1820s in the peaceful town of Hanley, Staffordshire, through the growth of the potteries and mines and the great influx of people seeking work. It is a poignant story (mixed in with happier stories of the circus coming to town and the Etruria races) of his life, loves and losses, running through the background of the history of the time, which includes the Cholera pandemic of 1832 (similar to the COVID19 of today).
It follows John's story through to the Pottery Riots of 1842, taking in the various riots for more pay, for a people who had become depressed and disillusioned and starving and their pay is repeatedly cut, with the only thing on the horizon for them being the dreaded workhouse.
Trade stagnation led to pay being cut repeatedly by the affluent pottery and mine owners, including the infamous Job Meigh. People began to fight for their rights, for their pay to be reinstated, for representation in parliament and the vote. The Chartists were championing their cause, trying to get their People's Charter through Parliament, but the Corn Laws and pay cuts were causing starvation, and the only thing on the horizon for them was the workhouse, where John, in the deepest of depressions, finds himself imprisoned. Eventually, the people were in such dire straits that the riots in Burslem occurred in 1842, when the army was called out and opened fire on the starving masses.
The end is quite dramatic and unexpected.
Footsteps in the Past: John's Story https://amzn.eu/d/aYfPOl2
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