A Kind Heart

The Soldier’s Daughter by AnneMarie Brear is a marvellous historical novel.

The action takes place in 1860 in Bingley near Bradford. It is a time of change as the cotton mills that have profited from the slave trade really need a new way of thinking and operating.

The leading lady and her father have returned from India and bought a large house and grounds. India holds many memories for them and is the place where the mother and grandmother died. We witness the freedom for women in India contrasted to the constraints in Britain.

Evie is a free spirit. She does not let the constraints of Britain squash her upbringing in India. She has a kind heart, often preferring to endanger herself in order to help others. This does not always make her popular.

There is much grief in the novel as modern medicine has not yet been discovered, meaning that lives may well be cut short.