Please join me in welcoming Fiona J. Mackintosh to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, Ancestral Virgins.

In early 20^th century Britain, society was changing rapidly, but not much was changing for women.

From different ends of the social spectrum, Celia Mapperley and May Hallam wrestle with rules and circumstances beyond their control and must navigate love, sex, war, and the thin line between conformity and scandal.

As they each bear the shame of a devastating family secret, their stories come together in ways that neither could have imagined.

Fiona has kindly shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy it.

beginning of extract

My historical novel Ancestral Virgins is set in early 20^th century Britain, when society was changing rapidly, but not much was changing for women despite the efforts of the Suffragettes. Lady Celia Mapperley is a young aristocrat who is being dragged around the marriage circuit but feels out of place and unwanted and is searching for a way to feel whole. Meanwhile, May Hallam is the youngest child of a waggoner who works on Celia’s father’s estate in Nottinghamshire. Both young women have to wrestle with rules and circumstances beyond their control and must navigate love, sex, war, and the thin line between conformity and scandal. As they each bear the shame of a devastating family secret, their stories come together in ways that neither could have imagined.

This extract is from the point of view of May Hallam as a child. Although the youngest of six siblings, she’s always been expected to take care of her brother Davey who is 16 months older and has what we now call Down’s Syndrome. In this piece, May and Davey are about 8 and 9 and have been sent out to pick up fallen branches to fuel the kitchen range, but May has become distracted.

February 1915

May noticed the light was fading. It would still be light outside the wood, but she and Davey should hurry and find some kindling before it was too dark to see. She heard the rustling of footsteps and, suddenly afraid, she called out, “Davey!” A startled pigeon burst out of the hedgerow, and then there was a crumpling sound. May jumped to her feet. Nothing moved in the treetops and the air was very still, and then all at once it was pierced by a long, high-pitched howl.

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