by Ruthie Lewis
That’s good enough for me. I’m getting on with life. I’m studying hard and learning, and I’m starting to think I might follow in my parents’ footsteps and become a teacher too. In a few years I might go up to Rotherhithe again, and see if Miss Clare would take me on. She’s not fooling anyone; she won’t go back to the Clare School. She’ll stay at Paradise Row and she’ll carry on the fight, just like my parents did. It’s in her blood now.
She’s a good woman, Miss Clare. I just wish she’d give up that nonsense about never wanting to marry. I reckon there will come a time when she regrets saying that. I found a poem in a book the other day. I couldn’t understand all of it, but I understood the first part well enough.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
I guess it was written by a man, because he didn’t mention women, but it is true of us too. I have learned that all of us, man or woman, need someone to love us, someone to care for us and keep us, to give us comfort when things go bad, and love and hope when they go well. I didn’t learn that on the streets, either, or from any book. I learned it from her. And I will never forget.
Acknowledgements
First of all, many thanks are due to Tara Loder from Zaffre without whom this book would never have seen the light of day. She was a major inspiration for this book and she has been its enthusiastic supporter and champion all the way. Thanks to the Royal Literary Fund for all their support during the process of writing this book. At Zaffre, Claire Johnson-Creek and Katie Lumsden’s help and guidance and patience throughout the editing and production process has been great, and Laura Gerrard’s excellent copyediting made many big, helpful improvements to the text.
The usual (and very fulsome) thanks are due also to Heather Adams and Mike Bryan for their excellent, calm agents’ advice. It is always welcome and always helpful.
Advice from Suzie Stevens of St James’ Primary School about education for children from traumatised backgrounds was really valuable (I still owe her a drink!). Other teachers have also provided helpful comments and information, even if they were not aware of it at the time, including Janine Cook, Hazel Fox, Adam Hills, Hugh Lee, Dierdre Petersen and Phil Whittley. Other really helpful education-related ‘stuff’ has been forthcoming from Derek Brett, Daryll Chapman, Jane Lake, Kelly Hoggins, Tania Skeaping and, latterly, Craig Griffiths. My fellow governors and trustees have also been a great source of useful information. Through discussions with these educators and teachers, I have gained a greater insight into the complexities of teaching which has been invaluable when writing The Orphans of Bell Lane.
Thanks are due to Michelle and Morwenna for providing a musical break from writing – it was a pause that always refreshed. Thanks also to the letting agent who led me to live (albeit briefly) in a corner of south-east London full of history, but much less famed than the east end north of the Thames.
Finally I would like to thank my grandparents, Alice and Arthur Holbrook, and my several great-grandparents (and step-great grandmother) for providing the inspiration for parts of this book. Though they are long gone, The Orphans of Bell Lane owes much to their personal stories.
Welcome to the world of Ruthie Lewis!
Keep reading for more from Ruthie Lewis, to discover a recipe that features in this novel and to find out more about Ruthie Lewis’s inspiration for the book . . .
We’d also like to introduce you to MEMORY LANE, our special community for the very best of saga writing from authors you know and love, and new ones we simply can’t wait for you to meet. Read on and join our club!
www.MemoryLane.club
Dear Readers,
Thank you for choosing The Orphans of Bell Lane. The story of Grace and Rosa and their family was wonderful to write and touches on things close to my heart. Behind the book are a few different strands of inspiration: personal, coincidental and strongly linked to my non-writing activities. Shall I tell you what these are?
Some elements of the plot of The Orphans of Bell Lane are an adaptation of my family history. Parts of the childhood of my maternal grandparents, Alice and Arthur, were a key inspiration for Grace, Rosa and George Turneur. Alice was born and brought up in Rotherhithe in a small road (much rebuilt since WWII) next to the London Bridge railway line. Alice’s father was a bricklayer and died young. Her mother remarried and the family eventually moved out of unhealthy Rotherhithe to the clean air of Hornchurch in Essex.
My grandfather Arthur’s family history is even more crucial to the plot. His mother died of tuberculosis in the early 1890s when Arthur was young and her sister moved in to look after the three children (sound familiar?) She and my great-grandfather married and had three more children before he died of TB when Arthur was just twelve. My family was more fortunate than Grace’s. My great-grandfather’s employer was a decent man and allowed the family to stay in their tied cottage (my great-grandfather had worked at a market garden in Essex).
When my grandmother’s family moved from Rotherhithe to Essex, Alice and Arthur met and married. They emigrated to Canada the day after their wedding. All six of my great-grandmother’s ‘blended’ family lived into ripe old age; the youngest, Great-Aunt Nellie, lived to 104. Her 100th birthday party was attended by dozens of family and friends.
When I first moved to London in 1987, I was surprised and pleased to find myself living not far from my grandmother’s birthplace. Although I lived there only briefly, I travelled into London for many years on the same railway line that Grace would have taken from Sevenoaks. I often looked down from the train into the street where my grandmother was born. This connection inspired the novel’s setting novel in Rotherhithe at a time then the area was undergoing big building projects and great change.
Finally, the education background (thanks to Tara Loder for the idea!) fits so well with one of my main non-writing activities. The child of a high school teacher, a sister and aunt to others, I have been a governor for over ten years, first at a small village primary school and then for a group of six primaries and one secondary comprehensive. I am also a trustee of a multi-academy trust with a strong co-operative/church ethos. Much of my ‘free’ time is spent in schools, talking to teachers, children and school leaders about how to improve our schools and ensure pupils have a safe, balanced and enjoyable education. While many things have changed in education over 150 years, there are many things that today’s schools have in common with those of the past. Not least of these is the need to help our most disadvantaged pupils achieve their best and enable them to improve their life chances. Many of Grace’s Ragged School challenges are familiar to today’s teachers. Sadly too, the struggles of children like Jimmy Wilson would be all too familiar to some of our pupils today.
The Orphans of Bell Lane draws together many threads of my life and that of my family (I am one of seven children and know about living in a house full of children). I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, please do share your thoughts on the Memory Lane Facebook page Memory Lane Club.
Yours sincerely,
Ruthie Lewis
Bacon ‘Dumplings’
This recipe was taught to me by a cook in a laminated chip-board factory in west Kent in the late 1980s; she called it Kent Bacon Roly-Poly Pudding. I have since discovered that it has a much more ancient history and was a good way for poor people to eke out small amounts of bacon or other meat to fill up hungry stomachs. Vegetables such as potatoes or swede are added to bulk out the expensive protein element! It serves six or seven healthy appetites and goes well with carrots and cabbage.
You will need:
2 onions, finely chopped
200g shredded suet
500g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
a little cold water
12 rashers of streaky bacon chopped up (smoked or not as to your taste – I prefer smoked)
salt and pe
pper to taste
sage (optional)
2 potatoes, peeled and grated
2 dessert spoons swede, peeled and grated (or more if you like)
Method:
1. Sauté the onions, adding a little salt to help them sweat down. Try not to get too much colour on them to avoid a burned onion flavour. (Sometimes a little water or white wine helps to sweat them down.)
2. While the onions are cooking rub the shredded suet, flour and baking powder together in a bowl until like breadcrumbs, and then, a little at a time, add enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Roll this out into a rectangle about 3cm thick.
3. Add the chopped bacon to the onions for a few minutes and then season to taste. Some crumbled sage leaves can be added.
4. Spread the onion and bacon mixture along with the shredded potato and swede across the suet pastry.
5. Moisten the edges of the pastry and roll up like a Swiss (or jelly) roll.
6. Wrap in two layers of greaseproof paper and a clean cloth and steam for 2 hours 15 minutes. Unwrap the roll and put in the oven on a baking sheet to brown for another 45 minutes.
7. Serve with either a mustard sauce or with gravy.
8. Enjoy!
Tales from Memory Lane
Discover new stories from the best saga authors
Available now
Introducing the place for story lovers – somewhere to share memories, photographs, recipes and reminiscences, and discover the very best of saga writing from authors you know and love, and new ones we simply can’t wait for you to meet.
The address for story lovers
www.MemoryLane.club
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Zaffre
This ebook edition published in 2019 by
ZAFFRE
80-81 Wimpole St, London, W1G 9RE
Copyright © Marilyn Livingstone and Morgen Witzel, 2019
Cover design by Alexandra Allden
Cover images © Colin Thomas
Background images © Lee Avison / Trrevillion images
The moral right of Marilyn Livingstone and Morgen Witzel, to be identified as Authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978–1–78576–130–0
Paperbook ISBN: 978–1–78576–129–4
This ebook was produced by IDSUK (Data Connection) Ltd
Zaffre is an imprint of Bonnier Books UK
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk
