In the Shadow of the Linney

Could anyone of us have been Elizabeth Charmer? Walk the walk, feel her heart beat as she struggles through her life in Ludlow; a different place today. Survival, love and heartache, take you on this journey. The story begins at Elizabeth’s graveside - her family grieving her sudden death. They return to the Nag’s Head ale house and later to Elizabeth’s home in the Nag’s Head Yard, to reminisce the mother they thought they knew. Follow Elizabeth’s life from a fourteen year old spirited girl, the hopes of getting out of the poverty, she despised. The men she encountered on her journey, the hard labour of a prison sentence in Shrewsbury gaol. Elizabeth’s tenacious friendship with Maggie the prostitute who befriended her after they met up after serving their prison sentence. Their friendship showed it’s greatest strength when Maggie offered to adopt the secret love child of the servant girl and the father of four of Elizabeth’s illegitimate children; Walter Fallon. What impact does Daniel McCarthy, the first lover of Elizabeth have throughout her life? What really was Superintendent Bains to Elizabeth? How does Elizabeth’s life resonate with you at the end of this story?

Cora BB was born in Wolverhampton in the late 1940’s. Her father was from Wolverhampton and her Mother was born in Ludlow Shropshire. All Cora’s holidays whilst growing up were taken in Ludlow with her mothers family They roamed the hills and wandered the historical streets, visiting the historical castle and churches in and around the town. Once Cora retired from her career as a Special Needs assistant and Lecturer at the local college, she did charity work, joined a U3A ukulele group, writers group and joined Ancestry, researching her roots in Ludlow.