A REBEL AT PENNINGTON'S by Rachel Brimble ***Guest Post: Learn the difference between women in the Edwardian era from our lives today -- Excerpt -- Giveaway***
A Rebel at Pennington's
by Rachel Brimble
Historical romance/saga
1911 Bath. Banished from her ancestral home, passionate suffrage campaigner, Esther Stanbury works as a window dresser in Pennington's Department Store. She has hopes and dreams for women's progression and will do anything to help secure the vote.
Owner of the prestigious Phoenix Hotel, Lawrence Culford has what most would view as a successful life. But Lawrence is harbouring shame, resentment and an anger that threatens his future happiness.
When Esther and Lawrence meet their mutual understanding of life's challenges unites them and they are drawn to the possibility of a life of love that neither thought existed.
With the Coronation of King-Emperor George V looming, the atmosphere in Bath is building to fever pitch, as is the suffragists' determination to secure the vote.
Will Esther's rebellious nature lead her to ruin or can they overcome their pasts and look to build a future together?
Guest Post
Life In The Edwardian Era Compared To Today…
By Rachel Brimble
My Pennington’s Department Store series was inspired by my love of the TV series Mr Selfridge and The Paradise – yet, as much as I adored these shows, there was always something missing for me.
It wasn’t long before I realised that ‘something’ was my wish to know more about the female characters and their lives away from the stores. Once I started thinking about a theme of ‘female empowerment’ the more excited I became to write an Edwardian series.
I took a little risk creating another series in a department store, but loved the setting and knew it would give me enough scope and a big cast of characters to stretch the series to at least four books.
So, the next task was to dig deep into the women of the early 20th century. The problems they faced, the restrictions, the frustrations and the chances they were willing to take to make a change. The subject of women’s progression and female empowerment has always fascinated me, and I’ve often wondered what sort of young woman I would’ve been had I lived at this time.
I like to imagine I would’ve been quite a pain!
Life for women in the Edwardian era, especially for those in of the middle class and above, was mostly one of propriety and limitation…limitation enforced by the men in their lives and a very male-dominated hierarchy.
The fight for women’s suffrage was coming into full-force when A Rebel At Pennington’s takes place (1911) and the campaigners fights, protests and rallies were continuing to end in failure. Although the band of suffragists (peaceful) was still larger than the suffragettes (militant), tension was growing and anger simmering hotter and hotter.
Maybe it was inevitable there would be an explosion.
It’s this frustration and feeling of ‘what do we do next?’ that I explore in A Rebel At Pennington’s. Through my research, I immersed myself in the minds of both the suffragists and suffragettes which led to me having Esther Stanbury (the heroine) feeling morally pulled between the two bands of campaigners.
Suffrage aside, women everywhere could make little leeway in their decision-making, including their home lives, where they spent the majority of their time taking care of the home and their children. The husband or father was still the head of the house and, a lot of times, made their status perfectly clear by running their homes and wives with a hard hand…sometimes worse.
Divorce was rare and hard for a woman to instigate, with the authorities often refusing or ruling in favour of the husband which could lead to the wife losing not only her income, but her home and possibly her children, too. Such a thought makes it understandable why many women suffered in silence for many, many years.
It is these women’s issues that I explore throughout the Pennington’s Department Store series and as I write each book, the more I learn and the more impassioned I become about the stories I am compelled to tell. The first book, The Mistress of Pennington’s (out now) dealt with women in business, A Rebel At Pennington’s deals with women’s suffrage and in book 3 (coming Autumn 2019) I tackle divorce.
I can’t wait to find the subject I want to explore for book 4 (all books can be read stand alone)!
Happy Reading,
Rachel x
Keep scrolling to read an excerpt from A Rebel at Pennington's, by Rachel Brimble.
Excerpt
She looked towards Lawrence.He softly studied her, and her cheeks warmed. The way he looked at her inferred he was equally moved by Mrs Hadley’s sadness. Esther looked away. He, too, was widowed. Had he and his wife once shared the same love that Grace Hadley spoke of?
Shamed by the jolt of jealousy that shot through her, Esther walked to stand behind a pillar that blocked Lawrence’s sight of her but gave her full view of Mrs Hadley. A familiar sense of unworthiness knotted Esther’s stomach. If Lawrence understood Grace Hadley’s words and sorrow, then, he too, must have known deep and meaningful love.
She would never be enough to compete with such a ghost. Would never be enough to be with a man who bore such longing for a person he’d lost. If she listened to her body and how it so treacherously reacted to Lawrence, her attraction to him would only end badly when the moment came that she’d inevitably held something of herself back.
She could not forgo everything she had built. Somehow, she had to find the strength to fight the temptation of Lawrence’s gaze and quash the yearning to see him again…to see his children again. The emotions he’d evoked in her proved her capable of feeling. Something she had doubted for so very long. Her meeting him had been worth that, at least.
About the Author
Rachel lives with her husband and their two daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. Since 2007, she has had several novels published by small US presses, eight books published by Harlequin Superromance (Templeton Cove Stories) and four Victorian romances with eKensington/Lyrical. 
In January 2018, she signed a four-book deal with Aria Fiction for a new Edwardian series set in Bath’s finest department store. The first book, The Mistress of Pennington’s released July 2018 with book two coming February 2019.
Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America and has thousands of social media followers from all over the world. To sign up for her quarterly and new release newsletter, click here to go to her website: https://rachelbrimble.com/
Giveaway
Rachel Brimble will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thanks for hosting!
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