At a time when Cotton was no longer King and the mills remained idle, the Etherow-O’Donnell and Akroyd families, together with their friends, find themselves battling against a new enemy — a lack of work and widespread starvation. Famine stalked the land in the North West of England, as the forces of the Confederacy and the Union battled it out in a war between Americans — brother against brother — sister against sister. The outcome of the Civil War would determine the future of the United States — whether democracy and liberty would triumph, or a new Confederate States of America emerge — a separate country with a distinct form of government based on chattel-slavery and despotism. Just as Americans found themselves divided, so too did the antagonistic classes in the cotton-manufacturing region of England. Once again the author skilfully weaves his weft of fiction into the warp of historical reality. An exciting read from start to finish.
