by Annie Murray
lock-wheeling – to go ahead on foot or bicycle and prepare the locks for passage by boats
monkey, monkey boat – a power-driven narrowboat which can tow a butty
monkey hole – storage space inside the boat
pinner – apron
to shaft – to manipulate the position of a boat by using the shaft (boathook), a long pole
snubber – towing rope made of coconut fibre and used between the fore end of the butty and the stern of the motor – at full stretch, usually seventy feet long
spare-wheeling – filling in for a crew member when a boat was short-handed
to stove – to fumigate with sulphur to rid the boat of bugs
strap – ropes used for tying up or short-length towing
stroving – working hard
Turk’s head – decorative rope fender found in numerous places on all narrowboats
winding hole – wider spot in canal, where boats can turn round
windlass – L-shaped cranking handle used for winding the lock paddles up and down
to work fly – work on one of the fly boats with larger crews, which did the London to Birmingham round trip non-stop in something under sixty hours
Water Gypsies
Annie Murray was born in 1961 in Wallingford, Berkshire. She went to school in the area and went on to study English at St John’s College, Oxford. Her first job took her to Birmingham, where she met and married her husband, John. They have four children.
In 1991 she won a SHE-Granada TV Short Story competition in association with This Morning, and was taken on by an agent. In 1992 she began writing her first Birmingham novel, Birmingham Rose, which made The Times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. This has been followed by Kate and Olivia – retitled Birmingham Friends (1996), Birmingham Blitz (1998), Orphan of Angel Street (1999), Poppy Day (2000) The Narrow-boat Girl (2001) and Chocolate Girls (2003).
Also by Annie Murray
Birmingham Rose
Birmingham Friends
Birmingham Blitz
Orphan of Angel Street
Poppy Day
The Narrowboat Girl
Chocolate Girls
First published 2004 by Macmillan
This edition published simultaneously 2004 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2010 by Pan Books an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR Basingstoke and Oxford Associated companies throughout the world www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-330-53821-3 PDF
ISBN 978-0-330-53820-6 EPUB
Copyright © Annie Murray 2004
The right of Annie Murray to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Author biography
Title page
Contents
Part One
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Part Two
Eighteen
Ninteen
Twenty
Twenty One
Twenty Two
Twenty Three
Twenty Four
Twenty Five
Twenty Six
Twenty Seven
Twenty Eight
Twenty Nine
Thirty
Thirty One
Thirty Two
Thirty Three
Thirty Four
Thirty Five
Thirty Six
Thirty Seven
Thirty Eight
Thirty Nine
Forty
Forty One
Forty Two
Forty Three
Forty Four
Forty Five
Forty Six
Forty Seven
Forty Eight
Forty Nine
Glossary
Copyright page
