It is my pleasure to be today’s stop on the blog tour for The Mistress of Pennington’s by Rachel Brimble.  Thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation.

Elizabeth Pennington should be the rightful heir of Bath’s premier department store through her enterprising schemes and dogged hard work. Her father, Edward Pennington believes his daughter lacks the business acumen to run his empire and is resolute a man will succeed him.

Determined to break from her father’s iron-clad hold and prove she is worthy of inheriting the store, Elizabeth forms an unlikely alliance with ambitious and charismatic master glove-maker Joseph Carter.  United they forge forward to bring Pennington’s into a new decade, embracing women’s equality and progression whilst trying not to mix business and pleasure.

Can this dream team thwart Edward Pennington’s plans for the store?  Or will Edward prove himself an unshakeable force who will ultimately ruin both Elizabeth and Joseph?

As we all know, I am a fan of a historical novel so I jumped at the chance to be involved in this blog tour and get my hands on this lovely novel, and I was not disappointed!

The Mistress of Pennington’s is set in 1910, a slightly earlier time period than I usually read so it was nice to read something a little different.  It is set as the suffragette movement is gaining momentum with women try to cement their position in society as equal to men.  Elizabeth Pennington is the perfect heroine for this novel.  She is the only child of Edward Pennington, a wealthy widowed man who owns the large and prestigious department store in Bath.  Elizabeth has spent years attempting to prove herself within her fathers store, acutely aware that Edward Pennington is sorely disappointed that he doesn’t have a son to take over the store from him when the time comes.  Edward Pennington is struggling with the changes in society, believing women to be far inferior to men, and also believing that the wealthy upper classes are far superior to their working class counterparts.

Elizabeth seeks change along with many of her female peers, and as a result of her relationship with her father she is wary and mistrustful of men.  When she meets Joseph Carter, a glove-maker, she finds a heartbroken man with drive, ambition and the same ideals as her.  The difference in class between Joseph and Elizabeth is clear, with the descriptions of both of their lives being very clearly defined. Together they aim to change the ethos of Pennington’s, giving more equality to men and women, as well as allowing the working classes into a world previously only accessible to those in the upper classes.

Bath is a beautiful city setting for this novel, and Rachel Brimble really describes the opulence and almost majestic beauty of Pennington’s, along with how people such as Joseph Carter found it was an inspiring place to visit.

This is a beautifully written novel, and I am more than happy to recommend this to you all!

Rating: 📖 📖 📖 📖