The Belle of Belfast
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley April 28, 2015
Author Anne-Marie Foster
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ISBN: 9781742576190
Publisher: New Holland Publishers
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Website: http://www.newhollandpublishers.com
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Based on the true story of Isabelle McKittrick as she grows from one of many children in an impoverished Irish Catholic family into adulthood, this is a story of love, hope and incredible courage from a woman who faced the worst life could dish out and survived to walk tall, to walk proud.
Set before the beginning of the Second World War, in the ‘Falls Road’ area of Belfast, Isabelle’s father made a good living delivering fruit and vegetables to his customers. As the depression starts to bite life becomes harder for the already large family: a family into which a baby was born each year.
As she grows into a young woman she meets and falls in love with Jack Kennedy, a handsome and popular man. They realise this is a once in a lifetime love and make plans to become engaged, married and move to Canada where there is opportunity for work and a freer lifestyle.
This all goes terribly wrong, with Jack sailing for Canada, leaving Isabelle heartbroken. Although Jack had promised to write, months pass but the promised letters never arrived.
Eventually marrying Harry Savage, a man of considerable charm and good looks, she discovered he was man who had dreams in his mind, dreams of becoming a millionaire and living the grand life. Squandering his income on the horses in pursuit of these dreams, his young family are forced to live in poverty, Isabelle having to once again face the hardship of deprivation.
Then ‘the Troubles’ come to Belfast, where to be a Catholic was very dangerous, where life was cheap and if your house was marked by the Protestants, you knew for sure something bad was going to happen.
The family eventually manage to get out of Ireland becoming refugees in Newcastle, where they once again establish their lives, free from the horror of the Troubles. Sadly though, life has not finished with Isabelle!
Through the eyes of Anne-Marie Foster we step back to a time when to be a Catholic in Ireland you were ruled by the dictates of the Church and the Priest was a man to be feared and obeyed. A time when personal expectation was limited and life was simply what it was: tough!
We grow to admire a woman who lived by the adage of ‘never give up’: a woman who faced the horror of abuse but emerged to become a woman who, for more than 30 years helped others to face and overcome their own challenges. A woman who never fell out of love, never forgot her first and only true love, Jack Kennedy, but made the most of the life she was given.
Wonderful and enriching this is a story which will touch your heart and is also a tribute to the many women who face such terrible choices in life.