Tag Archive | The Women Of Fishers Wharf

The Women Of Fishers Wharf by Tracy Baines

A Community Atmosphere

The Women Of Fishers Wharf by Tracy Baines is a marvelous  historical novel set in 1912 in a North Eastern fishing community.

Life was hard. If you didn’t work, you didn’t eat. People had to make money however they could in order to keep themselves and their children out of the poor house. There were hard choices to be made at times. Women were particularly vulnerable. If they lost their husband, there would be no money as there were no widow’s pensions. Women did what they had to in order to put food on the table.

There were very few jobs available to women. Many worked at home doing piecework in their cottages. Some worked in shops. We see the strength and tenacity needed in order to survive.

Being at sea was a hard life. The atmosphere on board ship has been captured perfectly with Tracy Baines descriptions.

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