View source for A Father For Daisy by Karen Abbott

{{infobox1
|title=A Father For Daisy
|sort= Father For Daisy
|author=Karen Abbott
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=A better-than-average plot for this type of book, which explores attitudes to women and birth outside marriage at the end of the nineteenth century.  Recommended.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=224
|publisher=Robert Hale Ltd
|date=June 2011
|isbn=978-0709092414
|cover=0709092415
|aznuk=0709092415
|aznus=0709092415
}}

Beatrice Rossall found herself in a difficult position.  Her widowed father was an elderly vicar who took in a young unmarried girl who was expecting a baby.  Soon after the baby's birth, the mother died and Bea's father died not long after, leaving Bea in charge of Daisy who was only a few weeks old and with the prospect that she would have no home within a matter of days.  She couldn't get work because of Daisy – with a lot of people believing that she was Daisy's mother – but she wasn't going to let Daisy go to the workhouse.  At the end of the nineteenth century, this wasn't a good position to be in.

You might, like me, find the first part of this book annoying with its over-use of the Lancashire dialect.  It's not because I'm Yorkshire born and bred – it's because I felt as though I was translating what I was reading.  Persevere.  It's worth the effort.  What you get is a heroine you'll warm to – doing her best in difficult circumstances and being straight with everybody despite what they thought of her.  It's also a great picture of England at the end of the nineteenth century with its (now) dated views on the place of women in society and the attitudes to childbirth outside marriage.

The baddies are a little stereotypical – you can start to hiss as soon as you see Miss Hawsley appear – but the plot is good and I read long into the night because I had a suspicion as to how it would all turn out but I wanted to be certain.  Unusually for this type of book, I was rather sorry when I turned the last page and I the characters – particularly Bea – stayed with me long after I finished reading.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag. 

If this type of book appeals then you might also enjoy [[A Most Rebellious Debutante by Karen Abbott|A Most Rebellious Debutante]] also by Karen Abbott, or [[Best Laid Plans by Patricia Fawcett]].

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