The Mistress of Pennington's

The Mistress of Pennington's - Rachel Brimble

Description

1910 – A compelling tale of female empowerment in Bath's leading department store. Perfect for the fans of the TV series Mr Selfridge and The Paradise.

Elizabeth Pennington should be the rightful heir of Bath's premier department store through her enterprising schemes and dogged hard work. Her father, Edward Pennington believes his daughter lacks the business acumen to run his empire and is resolute a man will succeed him.

Determined to break from her father's iron-clad hold and prove she is worthy of inheriting the store, Elizabeth forms an unlikely alliance with ambitious and charismatic master glove-maker Joseph Carter. United they forge forward to bring Pennington's into a new decade, embracing woman's equality and progression whilst trying not to mix business and pleasure.

Can this dream team thwart Edward Pennington's plans for the store? Or will Edward prove himself an unshakeable force who will ultimately ruin both Elizabeth and Joseph?

Review

When I saw this book was going to be perfect for fans of Mr Selfridge and The Paradise I knew I had to read it and I wasn't disappointed.

My blood boiled frequently while reading the book and the fate of Miss Pennington at the hands of her draconian father. No matter that the suffragette movement was taking off, Mr Pennington has very firm ideas of how his daughter should behave and being in business is not one of them.

I know these were very different times and this is exactly how it would have been, but it still rankled with me whenever Mr Pennington had something to say to his daughter. He reminded me of Scrooge in a Christmas Carol. Thankfully Miss Pennington is made of strong stuff and does not back down from her Father and her plans for the store.

There is a romance within the pages and the story is maybe a little longer than it needed to be, but I still really liked it. There will be those that will say it is a predictable tale, but actually I thought the ending was anything but predictable. A great read, a little escapism and a wonderful insight into social history and the development of shopping within a Department store.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for an ARC to review.

Comments

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