Giveaway - In the Margins by Gail Holmes
We have another giveaway!
In The Margins is an extraordinary debut. A chronicle of a woman who lived and wrote in the margins of time. Inspired by the real life of Frances Wolfreston – an intellectually curious rector’s wife in 17th century puritanical England – this superbly researched book narrates the restricted lives of women during this turbulent era.
Bestselling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder of Jericho, Pip Williams said ‘Gail Holmes has written a beautiful, compelling and emotionally rich story about a woman who wrote herself into the margins of books at a time when women were voiceless. An extraordinary debut. I loved it.’
About In the Margins
Inspired by a real person, In the Margins is the story of spirited book-collector, Frances Wolfreston—the woman who uniquely preserved the earliest part of Shakespeare’s legacy.
England, 1647. As civil war gives way to an uneasy peace, and Puritanism becomes the letter of the law, Frances Wolfreston, a rector’s wife, is charged with enforcing religious compliance by informing on her parishioners. This awful task triggers memories of her mother Alice, who inspired her love of books, and secretly practised Catholicism at great risk. Conflicted Frances doesn’t report a reclusive midwife to delay her going to gaol.
As Frances takes increasingly bold steps to help the women and children of the parish, she attracts the ire of a patron of the church who questions why Frances collects books that she charges are entertainment. When Frances’s mother is arrested for religious crimes, the secrets Frances keeps from her husband begin to surface, and she is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the strict dictates of the new laws or risk everything to free the women she cares for.
In this tender and powerful work of imagination, the life of a remarkable women who wrote and lived in the margins at a time when women’s voices went unheard is restored to history. Beautifully written and deeply moving, In the Margins is a testament to the way literature can illuminate our inner lives and set us free when the world around us is covered in darkness.
About Gail Holmes
Gail Holmes grew up in Scotland, the only girl and youngest of seven children. She graduated from University of Strathclyde with a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering and Master of Business Administration, joined an international energy company in London, and worked there for twenty plus years as a commercial manager.
Gail married, had five children, and her writing journey ignited when she was a working mum in Shanghai, China. Unable to get to sleep one night, Gail started writing short stories about living in Shanghai. As her writing flourished, she attended short courses at the City College of Literature in London. Gail moved to Australia in 2013 and graduated in 2021 from Melbourne University’s Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing programme. In The Margins is her first novel.
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5 winners will be drawn via Random.org
Contest ends 23 July at 5pm AEDST. Good luck!
The contest is limited to Australian and New Zealand readers only.
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