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"Archway
of Tears" is a first novel by David Conroy, and is based on real-life
events from his mother's life.
Always headstrong, Winifred Pow leaves her unhappy home life in Devon
in Autumn 1920 to find a new life in Birmingham. There her rash behaviour
brings her into conflict with the social taboos of the time. She meets
shadowy South African John van de Leure, and her involvement with him
leads finally to her entry through the Archway of Tears, the title given
locally to the entrance of the Birmingham Workhouse in Western Road.
Alienated from her family and a fugitive from authority, her story reveals
the best and worst in human nature as it builds to a gripping climax.
"A first novel by David Conroy, and a gripping one at that. This
book reveals the best and worst in human nature...The author's meticulous
research into the minutiae of Birmingham's history is used vividly, drawing
the reader into the Midland scene of the 1920's"
North Devon Journal - 29.10.01 |
