The Ragged Urchin

 

The Ragged Urchin is currently FREE on Amazon Prime Reading in KINDLE format! [Also available in paperback and audio] This book is the first of a three part series: The Ragged Urchin, The Christmas Locket and [soon to be published – The Lily and the Flame]

To download this well loved book, please click here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ragged-Urchin-Rags-Riches-Book-ebook/dp/B07FSWRB2B

Will this little orphan boy find a safe haven?

Orphaned at the age of ten-years-old, Archie Ledbetter, is forced to live with his uncle in his very grand house. Uncle Walter seems emotionless, exhibiting little feeling towards the young lad. If it wasn’t for some of the staff at Huntington Hall, Archie’s life would be a complete misery. There’s a dark secret that Cook hints at as to why Archie’s mother left her lavish lifestyle behind and ended up settling in the East End of London, scraping a living selling cakes and confectionery from the back of a barrow in the marketplace. Archie’s never known his father and wonders who he is. Just as he’s settling in at the house, someone comes along and seizes the opportunity to kidnap Archie, forcing him to work as a chimney sweep, navigating searing hot chimney breasts in an inferno of hell. As if life couldn’t get much harder for boy, he cries himself to sleep at night praying for the angels to take him so he can finally see his mother once again in heaven…

Will Archie finally find the love he’s looking for?

A heartwarming saga, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Maggie Hope.

Advertisement

Excerpt: The Workhouse Waif

Megan was becoming excited on the run up to Christmas day itself. It really thrilled her to see people coming into the tea room carrying gaily wrapped presents, their cheeks pinched and flushed from the frosty air. She’d hear them chatter about their plans for the festive season to one another and to her employer.

“Yes, Peggy, we’ll be spending Christmas with Alf’s folk in the country. They came to us last year, so it’s our turn to go there this year. It won’t be such hard work for me…”

“Oooh Peggy, I’ve bought my little Winifred this beautiful china doll, when I saw it in Edmonds’ Bazaar I knew she just had to have it. Won’t her face be a picture on the big day itself?”

“Could we order a couple of your miniature Christmas cakes to have with our tea, Peggy? They look ever so nice.”

Megan loved all the chatter, but at times her mind drifted back to the workhouse, though she knew that was the one day of the year the inmates looked forward to as the food was heaps better and they could see their relatives also interned at the workhouse. Usually, visits to one another were sparse. They were allowed a visit on a Sunday and sometimes for particular occasions like birthdays or if their relative were unwell. The workhouse divided families—that fact Megan knew all too well. Her family was still divided in a way but at least they got to meet occasionally at Mr and Mrs Evans’s home in Twynyrodyn, and she knew all were well cared for, including herself.

She was becoming increasingly concerned about Griff, he’d been practising hard at the Temperance Hall for a special show during Christmas week. He hadn’t called to the shop nor to Mrs Mathias’s house for the past two days.

She vowed to herself if he did not call tomorrow, she would seek him out herself, even though she hated setting foot in the China district of Merthyr. Mrs Mathias had warned her that young ladies had set foot in that place never to return home again. She said there were bad people there known as, ‘bullies’, who ran gangs of pickpockets and prostitutes. Megan still wasn’t sure what a prostitute was mind you. Though she had a fair idea that maybe the man who had accosted her that time was one of those bullies himself.

As Megan went about her business at the tea room that day, she noticed Peggy had a strange gleam in her eye and kept humming to herself. That was odd, she seemed so pleased with herself, but that was nice as she had worried so much about Eli of late. At the end of the working day, when it had grown dark and the last customers departed, wishing them both a ‘Merry Christmas’ as they left, Peggy locked the door and sat at one of the tables.

“Megan, please sit down, I have something to tell you…”

Purchase book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M8JN9H4