Herring Girl

Set in a Tyneside fishing village, Herring Girl moves effortlessly between 1898 and 2007 as twelve-year-old Ben finds himself the unlikely conduit for Annie, a herring girl who lived – and died – a century earlier. As Ben tries to unravel the puzzle of Annie’s death, he is drawn irresistibly into her long-vanished world. Bringing the startling story of Annie’s life and curious death vividly to life, this brilliantly realised historical mystery introduces a cast of unforgettable characters, and reveals how the secrets of our past are never too far away.

The herring girls sort and pack the catch of fish every day at Whitby and thirteen-year-old Dora has always held a romantic notion of joining them. Then a family tragedy forces Dora into the job she's secretly dreamed about and the brutal reality of being a herring girl strikes. It's a tough life but Dora is detemined to be successful.

Scots like to smoke or salt them. The Dutch love them raw. Swedes look on with relish as they open bulging, foul-smelling cans to find them curdling within. Jamaicans prefer them with a dash of chilli pepper. Germans and the English enjoy their taste best when accompanied by pickle's bite and brine. Throughout the long centuries men have fished around their coastlines and beyond, the herring has done much to shape both human taste and history. Men have co-operated and come into conflict over its shoals, setting out in boats to catch them, straying, too, from their home ports to bring full nets to shore. Women have also often been at the centre of the industry, gutting and salting the catch when the annual harvest had taken place, knitting, too, the garments fishermen wore to protect them from the ocean's chill. Following a journey from the western edge of Norway to the east of England, from Shetland and the Outer Hebrides to the fishing ports of the Baltic coast of Germany and the Netherlands, culminating in a visit to Iceland's Herring Era Museum, Donald S. Murray has stitched together tales of the fish that was of central importance to the lives of our ancestors, noting how both it - and those involved in their capture - were celebrated in the art, literature, craft, music and folklore of life in northern Europe. Blending together politics, science, history, religious and commercial life, Donald contemplates, too, the possibility of restoring the silver darlings of legend to these shores.

At different times of the year, herring were found in commercial numbers in the North Sea, the Moray Firth, the Minches, the Firth of Clyde, the Irish Sea and the English Channel.

"Report of the Dominion fishery commission on the fisheries of the province of Ontario, 1893", issued as vol. 26, no. 7, supplement.

Historical fiction has a great deal to offer as its readers and devotees have always known. The time is ripe however for the historical novel and historical picture book to be promoted more emphatically so that many more are made aware of the delight and learning to be found in the genre. The editors of this book invited authors, academic writers and teachers to reflect on the nature, scope, range and richness of historical fiction for children. What is collected here provides an overview of the field, a consideration of significant writers of historical fiction from the nineteenth century onwards, a sense of the various historical eras commonly explored (Stone Age to World War 2), a discussion of commonly raised issues, themes and topics such as child labor, slavery and migration, and a forum for writers to reveal their insights into the writing of historical fiction. Julian Atterton, Berlie Doherty, Michael Foreman and Philip Pullman have made contributions. It provides evidence of children and students engaging creatively with historical fiction.

The Anstruther Lass is a historical romance set in the Dundee Jute Mills in 1865. Lana, a young widow from Anstruther, works at a mill and falls in love with a Dutch sailor Stefan, the son of a rich jute trader and shipping magnate. Problems arise when the mill manager, Campbell, also falls in love with Lana and pays local Anstruther smugglers to kill his rival. Meanwhile, a serial killer is targeting sailors in Dundee. The smugglers rescue Stefan from this killer and decide not to assassinate him, but sell him to the British Navy. Her sister hides a pregnant Lana until the birth of Lanas baby, and another sister pretends the baby is hers to ensure the babys acceptance in society. When the baby is weaned, Lana returns to work, and Campbell offers to provide for her if she will become his mistress. When Lana rejects his offer, Campbell angrily shouts that it is useless to wait for Stefan as he paid the smugglers to kill him. Lana, incredulous, confronts the smugglers. Ton, Stefans father, arrives in Anstruther to find his son and meets Lana, only to be told of his disappearance. Where is Stefan? Is he alive or dead? Will Lana ever see him again?