After losing the case, Lotta is forced from her usual employment to a Soho brothel. Her father’s reaction to the case finds him on the wrong side of the law, no longer of any help to his family. Lotta’s experiences make her hardened to the world around her and into the arms of the Suffragette movement. The book details the struggles faced by the movement on their way to make a fairer, more equitable world. It is not a book to read if you are feeling at all dispirited or prone to melancholia, for it accurately portrays a society where the rich and powerful can evade punishment, treat others without any respect or compassion, denying women a voice and believing that sending men to certain death during wartime an honorable deed. Lotta also doesn’t know initially that Linden was told to lose the case or his failing career would be over. Putting his own family first, he uses his wily ways to get Lotta to trust him, drawing her into his web of deceit. The stress and shame of the court case results in Pap taking the law into his own hands and so a series of tragedies begin. It is full of tragedy and injustice. Lotta Rae is an ordinary girl from an ordinary working family who is treated abominably by the justice system and loses so much of what she holds dear throughout her tormented life.

The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan MacGowan Review : The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan MacGowan

It is a monumental work, not always easy to read, often harrowing in its descriptions of the brutal treatment meted out to hunger striking women and the horrors of trench warfare. But there are lighter moments, too, not least in the delightful episodes featuring Lotta's child. After her unjust court case Lotta faces further hardship throughout her life. She joins the Suffragette movement whilst she begins an addiction of opium in her grief. Perhaps you are finding it hard to forgive….perhaps it is in forgiveness that your suffering will ease.’ Lotta is a happy 19 year old living with her Ma and Pa in Peabody house, Spitalfields she works as a typist at Whitbreads Brewery. Her life was shattered when she attended a works Halloween party with her Pa. During the evening Lotta had a tiff with her colleague and boyfriend Albert and upset she decided to get some fresh air. As she walked outside an older gentleman, Henry Alan Griffiths, who had an interest in Whitbreads Brewery and had previously made lewd remarks to her in the office, followed her outside and walked up to her expressing concern that she was upset, he roughly took her arm and suddenly pushed her against a wall and raped her. Mark Hodkinson affectionately documents Rochdale’s dire 1973/74 season – winning twice in 46 league games – with a team considered the worst to play in the Football League. But this book is as much a love letter to his hometown as to his hometown team. The subject seems niche but the writer stretches the story smartly. We are on the familiar terrain of strikes over pay and crippling inflation, troubled race-relations, irresponsible industrialists, and despicable politicians, like Rochadale’s Liberal MP, paedophile Cyril Smith. Hodkinson adds plenty of cultural colour too, and evokes what a game on a Saturday can mean to a town trudging through life’s grey travails. Through a story of inglorious losers on the pitch, he shows that ordinary, decent people will not be defeated off it. NJ McGARRIGLEI have seen my name become notorious. Lotta Rae. The talk of London. There was talk, much talk for sure. But was there truth? Was there justice?" The main character, Lotta, is the most wonderful creation and I desperately wanted to change the direction she was moving in but powerless to help I read on knowing what was to come. I could not put this book down so engrossed was I in Lotta and her story. He is a hypocrite. He aspires to morality and duty, but he sells his principles to advance his legal career and his social status.

The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan MacGowan BLOG TOUR: The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan MacGowan

We are always delighted to hear from authors. We are currently open for review requests and we are happy to review a wide variety of genres. Please submit your information below and we will be in touch asap. There is something so very haunting and so very beautiful about this novel. Perhaps it comes from how fantastically it's written, maybe it's in how raw it feels, whatever it may be, it's there. And I found echoes our own age. The Spanish flu of 1918. So called not because it originated in Spain but because a neutral Spain had no need censor their press to keep morale high. Consequently, they were first to report the pandemic, so like the Covid we have lived with. That we live with still. For some reason, I seem to resist a lot of historical fiction, even though when it is written as well as The Trial Of Lotta Rae, it can be completely consuming and compelling. I chose to read this book almost on a whim, and I am so glad I did, as it turned out to be one of my favourite books of the year so far. MacGowan handles such strong emotions which are all described so beautifully that I could imagine myself walking alongside these characters, despite their lifestyle and beliefs being very different to mine. But don’t be put off. Siobhan MacGowan is a poet as well as a novelist, her use of language so lyrical and beautiful that I almost couldn’t bear it at times. And the historical details about World War One and the suffragette movement added to my appreciation of this wonderful, heartfelt read. A true masterpiece.This is by no means a lighthearted read. It’s real and it’s raw. It’s haunting, heartbreaking and totally devastating. This review is written with thanks to Pigeonhole for the opportunity to read and review The Trial Of Lotta Rae. This book was fascinating from start to finish. I loved the emotions it evoked in me, everything from heartbreak to anger. What surprised me the most about the book was that the trial itself wasn’t the book’s main focus but rather the aftermath. I really liked that about the story as it was a refreshingly new take on a woman scorned and out for revenge after being taken advantage of by men, especially a man who was supposed to be on her side to help her get justice. Siobhan MacGowan is a journalist and musician who lived and worked in London for much of her life before returning to Ireland several years ago. She is from a family of great storytellers, the most prominent of which is her brother, Shane MacGowan, of The Pogues. The crime perpetrated against Lotta, a humble clerk in a brewery office, on the night of Halloween 1906, has repercussions, for her and her legal representative, that echo through the next twelve years until her death. Revealing that she is dead by the end of the book is not a spoiler because it soon becomes apparent that her presence beside William Linden on an important journey, during which her story is told, is as a ghost haunting and tormenting him. A clever device which enables the author to reveal both his and her versions of the story side by side, as the two voices alternate.

The Trial of Lotta Rae: The unputdownable - WHSmith

Twelve years later, as the suffragettes rise and the ghost of WW1 looms large over London, William is joined again by Lotta Rae. Now they will travel to a fateful destination, where truths must be faced and wrongs will be righted. This book was fascinating from start to finish. I loved the emotions it evoked in me, everything from heartbreak to anger. What surprised me the most about the book was that the trial itself wasn't the book's main focus but rather the aftermath. I really liked that about the story as it was a refreshingly new take on a woman scorned and out for revenge after being taken advantage of by men, especially a man who was supposed to be on her side to help her get justice. Betrayed by her counsel, with far-reaching ramifications for her family, her life takes a turn for the worse ultimately resulting in the loss of both her parents and colouring her outlook on life and God. Halloween night, 1906. Lotta Rae is assaulted by a wealthy gentleman and bravely takes him to trial alongside her barrister, William. Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown

The Trial of Lotta Rae will make you furious. The way poor Lotta is treated by the judicial system is atrocious – the blame is for what happened is firmly at her door and the advantages of money and privilege work against her. Her happy life is ripped apart and she struggles to survive but makes good friends along the way. Lotta is a heroine you can’t hep but want to get behind. If you enjoyed The Familiarsand The Binding, you’ll love this sweeping and empowering historical novel, set in Suffragette England. A gripping story of injustice, intrigue and revenge set at the turn of the 20th century' - Irish Times