Introducing "The Poor Relation."

Yesterday my editor emailed me a mock-up of the cover for my latest book, The Poor Relation. I can't share it with you yet, because it has to be checked and finalised, but I can tell you that it is a lovely cover and very appealing - I hope you agree when you see it!

Set in Edwardian times, The Poor Relation is about the two branches of the Kimber family. There are the Kimbers themselves - they have the title, the money, the family seat, the social standing; and there are their lower-middle-class relations, the Maitlands. John Maitland, a Town Hall clerk, is Sir Edward Kimber's cousin. The Maitlands live their lives walking on social eggshells. They have to be ultra-respectable so as not to bring the mighty name of Kimber into disrepute. The flip-side of this is that they also have to be aware of what the neighbours are thinking, because they mustn't seem to be trading on their grand connections and getting above themselves.

The Kimbers and the Maitlands see one another once a year when the Maitlands are invited to Ees House for Sunday lunch. On that day, the Maitlands have to be ready extra early because not only they must not keep the Kimbers waiting, they mustn't keep the Kimbers' coachman waiting either; and as they walk down the garden path to the carriage, they have to be careful not to smile too broadly in case the neighbours think they're showing off.

The story shows the social extremes of the time, so we have the Kimbers with all the privileges of rank - the mansion, the servants, the posh dinner parties - as well as the deprivation of the slums in which Doctor Nathaniel Brewer sets up his clinic for the poor. Social reform provides part of the backdrop - the means test, the upper-class charity committees and the women's movement to improve the lot of lower-class women and working women.

The story also touches on the place of women in society - the changing role of the female gentry and the push for better working conditions for women, as well as the forcible feeding of suffragettes. In Edwardian times, modern-thinking women sometimes chose to 'love, honour and cherish' in their wedding vows, instead of saying 'love, honour and obey,' and articles were written questioning the legality of these marriages.

It is against this background that the heroine, Mary Maitland, John Maitland's daughter, is inspired by her social-reforming friends to embark upon a journalistic career. But is it possible to spread her wings at the same time as being a duitful daughter and obedient poor relation?

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I hope you like the sound of Mary's story. If you do, it is published in hardback on May 23rd. Hardbacks are mainly for the library market, so do put in a request at your local library. The paperback will be published in November.