- Paperback: 496 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; (Reissue) edition (9 April 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 000737464X
- ISBN-13: 978-0007374649
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,638,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Keepsake
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for ‘The Keepsake’:
‘Sheelagh Kelly is back with a tremendously compelling saga of life below the poverty line.’
Prizemags
Praise for Sheelagh Kelly:
‘Genuinely perceptive portrayals of human relationships’ IRISH INDEPENDENT
‘Sheelagh Kelly surely can write’ SUNDERLAND ECHO
Product Description
A stunning saga set in the city of York, as a poor boy falls for a rich girl – a tale of passion, poverty, and ultimately great bravery as they fight to keep together against everyone’s expectations.
Marty Lanegan is working as a boot boy in York’s splendid Station Hotel when he catches sight of the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. Henrietta Ibbetson is the daughter of a prominent landowner, who’s far from pleased with his rebellious daughter. When she announces her love for a mere servant, he throws her out.
Marty’s family is none too delighted with his choice – Etta can’t cook, sew, clean or make herself useful in any way. However, Marty is ambitious, Etta is content and they are wildly in love. But is that enough to sustain them as they raise a family of their own?
Sheelagh Kelly is back with a tremendously compelling saga of life below the poverty line in her home town of York, as the rigid conventions of Edwardian England crumble in the onslaught of the Great War – and her characters face the changes with warmth, humour and determination.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I finished reading this book last night and loved every moment of it.
The charactors are great fun especially the lead Etta Ibbetson, whom generally makes you want to laugh due to her wealthy background.
I found it great story involving romance but also the hardships of life long ago. The romance between Etta and Marty is quite glowing and pretty when Marty begins teaching her new skills that she hasn't quite learnt due to her always having servants to complete the menial tasks in the past.
A very enjoyable book.
The charactors are great fun especially the lead Etta Ibbetson, whom generally makes you want to laugh due to her wealthy background.
I found it great story involving romance but also the hardships of life long ago. The romance between Etta and Marty is quite glowing and pretty when Marty begins teaching her new skills that she hasn't quite learnt due to her always having servants to complete the menial tasks in the past.
A very enjoyable book.
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Keepsake was one of the "cannot put it down" books. Sheelagh Kelly captures the hearts of her readers and keeps them spellbound. From start to finish you are eager to know what happens next. Well up to her usual standard, will certainly be looking out for more books. Think I have read everything she has written so far but await the next enthralling episode with baited breath. Keep it up Sheelagh.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
2.5 stars. It started off really promising and then the end just completely left me frustrated and incredibly let down. I loved the idea: higher class girl runs off with poor Irish boy - and thus gives up her inheritance and a life of luxury - and they marry. Martin 'marty' has a close family and it was interesting to read how Etta has to adapt to completely new situations (i.e. from emptying her own chamber pot to realizing that she would actually have to make dinner for husband every night; it wouldn't just appear).
spoilers:
My problem with the book was this: when they meet the hero is BESOTTED by the heroine and desperate to get her, to marry her and get her away from her family. His mother described his actions as being similar to what he did as a little boy: wanting a large cooking apple badly. whilst his mother told him they tasted awful. He badgered her for weeks until she finally shelled out the money and brought it only for him to spit it out as soon as she brought it because it tasted awful. It's heartbreaking because this is what Marty does to Etta. She loves him deeply from when they meet to when the story ends: she gives up her family and tries hard to learn these foreign duties without hardly any help from his mother who derides her airs and graces and not once during what he puts her through does she wish she had chosen her family and a life of comfort over running away from him
They start having babies and when this means sex lessens, so does Marty's love. It is literally that transparent and heartbreaking to read. He also cheats on her. It's sad because for about 1/2 of the book, she is blissfully happy with him and he her and while she continues to be so, he starts to tire of the novelty of having someone like her for a wife. Then ue leaves her one day and never comes home - her and their 4 children, one of whom is a baby - and he doesn't come back for YEARS. Why? Because he joined the army and whilst there got a 'second wife'. It was disgusting. Sheelagh Kelly doesn't write typical romances in any way. 'A Long Way from Heaven' is one of my favourite books by her and it is by no means plain sailing but the hero in that book has integrity. Marty is a fool and Etta too good a character to be wasted on him.
The least Sheelagh Kelly could have done was give the heroine a better story when things change for Marty : him getting away, having an affair and basically just up and leaving his family because he's tired of them. Instead, she basically never really gets through to him - or his family, who are pretty unsympathetic to his frolics - just how much he has betrayed her. The ending is ridiculous, too, and far too rushed.
spoilers:
My problem with the book was this: when they meet the hero is BESOTTED by the heroine and desperate to get her, to marry her and get her away from her family. His mother described his actions as being similar to what he did as a little boy: wanting a large cooking apple badly. whilst his mother told him they tasted awful. He badgered her for weeks until she finally shelled out the money and brought it only for him to spit it out as soon as she brought it because it tasted awful. It's heartbreaking because this is what Marty does to Etta. She loves him deeply from when they meet to when the story ends: she gives up her family and tries hard to learn these foreign duties without hardly any help from his mother who derides her airs and graces and not once during what he puts her through does she wish she had chosen her family and a life of comfort over running away from him
They start having babies and when this means sex lessens, so does Marty's love. It is literally that transparent and heartbreaking to read. He also cheats on her. It's sad because for about 1/2 of the book, she is blissfully happy with him and he her and while she continues to be so, he starts to tire of the novelty of having someone like her for a wife. Then ue leaves her one day and never comes home - her and their 4 children, one of whom is a baby - and he doesn't come back for YEARS. Why? Because he joined the army and whilst there got a 'second wife'. It was disgusting. Sheelagh Kelly doesn't write typical romances in any way. 'A Long Way from Heaven' is one of my favourite books by her and it is by no means plain sailing but the hero in that book has integrity. Marty is a fool and Etta too good a character to be wasted on him.
The least Sheelagh Kelly could have done was give the heroine a better story when things change for Marty : him getting away, having an affair and basically just up and leaving his family because he's tired of them. Instead, she basically never really gets through to him - or his family, who are pretty unsympathetic to his frolics - just how much he has betrayed her. The ending is ridiculous, too, and far too rushed.
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