A Hundred Tiny Threads by Judith Barrow #BlogTour #Review @barrow_judith @honno

It’s with great pleasure today I get to share my review of A Hundred Tiny Threads by Judith Barrow as part of the blog tour. My thanks go to Honno Press and Judith for the copy in exchange for an honest review. This is a cracker of a story that is totally absorbing.

It’s 1911 and Winifred Duffy is a determined young woman eager for new experiences, for a life beyond the grocer’s shop counter ruled over by her domineering mother.
The scars of Bill Howarth’s troubled childhood linger. The only light in his life comes from a chance encounter with Winifred, the girl he determines to make his wife.
Meeting her friend Honora’s silver-tongued brother turns Winifred’s heart upside down. But Honora and Conal disappear, after a suffrage rally turns into a riot, and abandoned Winifred has nowhere to turn but home.
The Great War intervenes, sending Bill abroad to be hardened in a furnace of carnage and loss. When he returns his dream is still of Winifred and the life they might have had… Back in Lancashire, worn down by work and the barbed comments of narrow-minded townsfolk, Winifred faces difficult choices in love and life.

A Hundred Tiny Threads was published by Honno Press on 17th August 2017 and is available to purchase now.

Amazon UK | Amazon US

My review

Winifred is quite naïve, living at home above her parents shop she is very much controlled by her Mother, Ethel. Made to work in the shop,  she is desperate to have a life of her own and eager for new experiences. Ethel is very much one of those women that believes reputation is everything and Winifred has more or less lived a very sheltered life because of her. In steps Honora, an Irish girl and very much a free spirit. Winifred and Honora strike up a friendship which leads to Winifred having her eyes opened.

From the very first page, A Hundred Tiny Threads sweeps the reader up and transports them back to 1911. I have to admit I was very surprised with this book, I’ve never read anything by Judith Barrow before so I was expecting a good read going by the description, what I wasn’t expecting was to be so drawn in. Judith Barrow really had me there, back in 1911 along with Winifred, it almost felt like I was sitting there in the shop or out on the cobbled wintry streets.

The story alternates between Winifred and Bill Howarth. Winifred, very much likeable, Bill, very much not. Bill had a tough start to life but I couldn’t feel any sympathy for him what so ever, he is very much a character you love to hate and Barrow has done a wonderful job in describing his character and his journey. Even though they are both totally different characters, I couldn’t help rushing through the pages, eager to see what would happen next to each of them. A Hundred Tiny Threads is totally absorbing.

Not only is A Hundred Tiny Threads a blooming good story it’s like a hidden history lesson as well. With Winifred drawn into the women’s suffrage movement and Bills journey through WW1 and the Black and Tans, I was very much learning as I was reading. The horrors of the battlefield came alive and the bloodshed of the riots due to the suffragette rallies really were eye-opening and harrowing.

Judith Barrow has written a wonderful, descriptive story with many fabulous characters. A hundred Tiny Threads is a story that draws you in, it’s a story that is heart-breaking but it also has hope. It really shows what life was like back in the early twentieth century and I really didn’t want the story to end. I’ll definitely be looking out for more books from Judith Barrow and will be highly recommending A Hundred Tiny Threads.