Oliver & Jack: In Axminster Workhouse (Fagin's Boy, Book Three)
By Christina E. Pilz
Publication Date: September 27, 2015Blue Rain Press
eBook & Paperback; 406 Pages
Genre: Historical/Gay Romance
In Victorian England, 1846, an ex-apprentice and his street-thief companion are confined inside a workhouse to await trial for a crime they did not commit.
After the seaside interlude in Lyme Regis, Oliver and Jack are arrested and sent to Axminster Workhouse to await trial for the theft of books that they only meant to borrow.
They are put in the less-than-tender care of Workmaster Chalenheim, who controls the quotas they must fill, the amount of food they are allowed to eat, and the punishments they must endure upon breaking the rules, however arbitrary.
Oliver struggles with the shame of being in a place he thought he'd left behind him long ago, and also with the contrast between the life he once enjoyed and the hunger and degradation inside the workhouse walls. Meanwhile, Jack is confronted by a predator who tests the limits of Jack's endurance and the strength of his love for Oliver.
Together they must find a way to escape the workhouse before they succumb to the harsh conditions or are separated by the hangman's noose, whichever comes first.
My Review
Four Stars
Copy received from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for an honest review
Copy received from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for an honest review
Although I am only now picking up the book which is the third in the series, I was ablet to ascertain what happened in the previous parts of the story. Oliver and Jack are a gay couple who really have all the odds stack against them. First, I have to say that the author made Jack and Oliver real to me. I felt like I knew them. The author really provided great insight into what life if like for Jack and Oliver because they have to hide who they are from society. There are very tense moments when the burdens they carrry become very visible. Aside from their shared bond, Pilz shows us an insight into what life was like during this time period. I personally love Victorian time period so I found it fascinating. Overall, very satisfying read with many heartfealt moments.
AMAZON (KINDLE) | AMAZON (PAPERBACK) | BARNES & NOBLE
About the Author
Christina was born in Waco, Texas in 1962. After living on a variety of air force bases, in 1972 her Dad retired and the family moved to Boulder, Colorado. There amidst the clear, dry air of the high plains, as the moss started to grow beneath her feet, her love for historical fiction began with a classroom reading of Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.She attended a variety of community colleges (Tacoma Community College) and state universities (UNC-Greeley, CU-Boulder, CU-Denver), and finally found her career in technical writing, which, between layoffs, she has been doing for 18 years. During that time, her love for historical fiction and old-fashioned objects, ideas, and eras has never waned.
In addition to writing, her interests include road trips around the U.S. and frequent flights to England, where she eats fish and chips, drinks hard cider, and listens to the voices in the pub around her. She also loves coffee shops, mountain sunsets, prairie storms, and the smell of lavender. She is a staunch supporter of the Oxford comma.
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