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POPPY SILK WAS LONG-SHORTLISTED FOR ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2004
Amazon rating 
Whilst "Poppy Silk" is currently our of print, copies can be obtained from Amazon.co.uk. Click here to go directly to the relevant web page
| SYNOPSIS | PUBLISHING DETAIL | |
| Poppy Silk is the young daughter of an itinerant navvy working on the railroads of England's Black Country.
With her parents and siblings she lives in destitution in Blowers Green, a shanty town created by the railway navvies on the outskirts of Dudley as they built the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway. But Poppy yearns for a better life and realises the best way to achieve it is to learn to read and write. Through Robert Crawford, a well-connected but sympathetic young railway engineer, she learns the basics of reading and writing. But as their private classes progress, so too do the feelings they have for one another - and Robert finds himself drawn against his better judgement to the delightful waife Poppy. They are bound to encounter the disapproval of not only his family, but of society, and Robert has some painful decisions to make. Pursued also by the violent but darkly handsome navvy Jericho, Poppy finds herself torn between two men . . . two ways of life. With all the uncertainty that surrounds her, can she hold on to her virtue in an environment where heavy drinking, squalor and loose morals are a way of life? Passionate and inspirational, Poppy Silk is a tubulent saga of love, laughter and tears. |
Hodder & Stoughton Available in hardback from 4th April 2003 £18.99 ISBN 0-340-81828-X Available in Coronet paperback from 13th October 2003 Magna Large Print £18.99 Isis Sound Books £48.95 | |
| GREAT MEDIA REVIEWS | ||
| "Poppy Silk is a superior saga that happily avoids the usual melodrama, and in Poppy the author has created an appealing heroine who I couldn't help but root for. As a consequence, I've already ordered several of Michael Taylor's other novels." Sarah L Johnson - The Historical Novels Review. |
"Poppy is the central figure of a lovely Midlands tale which demonstrates Michael Taylor's extraordinary understanding of the female mind . . . " Sandra Jury - Coventry Evening Telegraph 31st January 2004 | |
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EXTRACT | ||
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'Don't think I'm like other navvy wenches, Jericho, cause I'm not. Who do you think you are anyway, coming here and thinking I'm going to fall at your feet?'
He looked at her a few seconds, uncertain how to react, and Poppy was afraid he might strike her for her disaffection. At last he grinned at her. 'Oh, playing hard to get, eh? Saving yourself for that Crawford, are you? Well, I don't mind playing that game. You'll be worth the wait, and you'll taste all the sweeter for it . . .' | |
