Author:Elvi Rhodes
Perfect for fans of Kitty Neale, Rosie Goodwin and Dilly Court, this is an emotional and powerful story of a woman who has a dream, and who will do anything to achieve it by multi-million copy seller Elvi Rhodes. A real page-turner you won't be able to put down...
READERS ARE LOVING OPAL!
***** "A feel good tale of rags to riches"
***** "One of the best books I have read for a long long time"
***** "I enjoy Elvi Rhodes books and this one is no exception"
***** "A page turner all the way through - a must read"
***** "I enjoyed every page"
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ALL SHE WANTS IS A BETTER LIFE FOR HER FAMILY...
When Edgar Carson returned from the First World War trenches, he found that the land fit for heroes didn't exist and the only positive thing in his life was Opal, the small, tough, Yorkshire beauty who married him.
But by the time the 1920s come, things are far from rosy: Edgar, consumed by bitterness, is on the dole, and Opal is pregnant for the second time.
Yet Opal is a fighter - and isn't going to let the times, the drudgery or the poverty destroy her or her family. She starts with a 'house shop', just sweets and cotton reels sold from the top of her sideboard, and carries on from there - for Opal's dream is her own department store and a grand life for all of them...
The story is what we have come to expect...Finely drawn characters...slot happily into local history. A panoply of personalities to love and hate, enough twists and turns to do justice to a crateful of eels and an ending to prompt plenty of exclamations of "well I never!"
—— Bolton Evening NewsCombining the visceral pleasures of a thriller with the more intellectual excitements of a novel of ideas... Beautifully constructed...never less than engrossing
—— Sunday TelegraphVivid, admirably imagined, ultimately very moving...This is a novel of the very highest ambition...immediate, sensuous, beautiful
—— Alan Massie , ScotsmanCombines dazzling erudition with assured narrative skills to offer glimpses of some of history's darkest corners, and stark and timely challenges to the very notions of civilisation and progress
—— Independent on SundayA dazzling hall of mirrors... Ferociously ambitious... Illumined by a fizzing passion for the recondite
—— Daily Telegraph