A great debut novel

 

I have been aware of this book for a while and wanted to read but I needed time to read this, not on holiday but on my own.
I lived in Ediburgh till 1987, I worked at The Royal Infirmary (RIE) late 80s and my grandfather was a firefighter and attended the Clydebank blitz in March 1941 ( 85 years ago), drank in the Rat and Rachet pub Chapel Hill in the 9os where the tables were none other than vintage Singer sewing machine cast iron with the treadle base which for me was quite special and not been back so not sure if these are still there. so lots of reasons to read and lots of reasons to put off.

This is a beautiful debut novel with the Singer sewing machine and the people who own one or are in contact with this iconic machine. Sadly no relatives I knew had one, and my mother never sewed (sadly) So not sure what my fascination is with Singer but it is there.

1911 - Jean works in the Clydebank Singer factory, a strike began in March (and this was 115 years ago now) when 12 women in the cabinet polishing department protested against increasing workloads and reduced pay due to new "scientific management" techniques. Within two days nearly 10000 employees out of 11500 joined the strike. Jean and her boyfriend Donald Cameron strike but jean's father has different views and throws Jean out of their tenement flat. When the strike ends Donald has lost his job and he and Jean move to Edinburgh.

Connie in the 50s keeps notebooks about was she has sewen as did her mother

In 2016 Fred discovers documentation concerning family history and secrets of four generations are discovered.

I like the references to Edinburgh briging back some good memories but mostly interesting historially, I worked in Theatre 20 in a turret at the front of the RIE building and although I worked in theatres I still had the 1980s white dresses and red cloak and starched cap but cannot recall ever visiting the sewing rooms, I also worked in the old Casualty as an agency nurse. I do remember the front entrance with the wooden benefactory boards and busts of victorian people.

Sadly when Jean revisits Clydebank years later, there was no mention of the famous Singer clock that had been demolished in 1963 and we did not get a feel of post war Clydebank.

The author has researched the history well and knows Clydebank and Edinburgh. She writes well and her characters stand out. Interesting she trained as nurse in the old RIE, maybe we bumped into each other, Sadly the old RIE is no longer and is now in the history books.

A recommended read. I am now seekng this authors work out to see what else she has written.