It was her letter. Dear Tizzie, it read so why had it been thrown away before she’d seen it? Her family wouldn’t do that to her, hide her things from her? Families supported and aided each other didn’t they? Especially on a Yorkshire Dale farm, in 1887 where life was tough enough without a falling out in the family. But niece Agnes knew something for she’d found the letter. Perhaps it was time for Tizzie to remove those rose tinted spectacles and really see what her brother, Jack, his wife, Maggie, and their children had been up to. ‘It’s nowt good that’s for sure,’ she thinks. Here she had been working herself down to skin and bones as a dairymaid for them, but what had they really done to her? She dreaded finding out but she must, or Agnes will suffer the same spinster fate. Sharp young Agnes wanted to be a school teacher, she showed Tizzie things weren’t what she’d thought. Together they uncovered Jack and Maggie's treachery and Tizzie, shocked, robbed of all she wanted in life, determined to set Agnes free. In conclusion, I would have to say that Lindsay's unique style of prose has the subtlety of being able to manipulate the reader into the belief that they themselves could actually help Tizzie and Agnes. Whether it is the continued use of the Yorkshire dialect, or whether it is the undeniable investment the reader gives to the characters, I am not sure. What I would say is this: whichever it is, or maybe it's both, Lindsay succeeds in such a way that on finishing the book I was surprised to find that I was, in fact, still in the twenty-first century, and not back in the nineteenth century, so wrapped up was I in the story. Editorial Review Set in the Yorkshire Dales at the end of the nineteenth century, Tizzie is not only the dark and gritty tale of a woman whose dreams were cruelly crushed by her brother and his wife. It is also a vibrant description of life in the 1880s, period detail inserted with impressive skill in a narrative that flowers into fantastic descriptions of the Dale while never losing pace and a sense of impending doom. This is a harrowing and addictive reading experience in which hope flickers feebly in the dark. But it does flicker, and it is quite impossible to remain unaffected by Tizzie's determination to ensure her niece will have what she was denied - a life. Historical Novel Society Review Tizzie is a heroine that you will never, ever forget. More, you will never forget her story. The book is that powerful. In fact, you won't forget any of people portrayed, not the sister-in-law, not the brother, not the nephews, and certainly never little Agnes. Mostly, though, you'll come away loving poor, loving, gentle, plain-minded Tizzie. You'll love her very dearly.You'll cheer for her to succeed, despite her lot, despite all odds, and, yes,the odds are and have been stacked against her and her precious Agnes from birth. You'll see why and how. Review Spot review Fans of the gauzy PBS version of Yorkshire rural life will find parts of Tizzie hard to take. Farm work during that era was backbreaking and mind-numbing, set against an omnipresent worry that the year's earnings might not make the rent and the family would be put off. The economic and social pressures that weigh on Tizzie make her battles against them all the more heroic. And I use the term "heroic" most intentionally here;Tizzie is indeed a hero as she labors to carve out a space of freedom for herself and her niece. steve wiegenstein Online Reveiws This is my review on Goodreads - I rated Tizzie a 5 star: Thank you to the author andVoracious Readers Only for this complimentary copy. "What a fantastic read!Cinderella for grown ups." NomiTeich I found a collection of oatcake recipes in an ancient book. One of these traditional oatcakes was the St Columba's cake, an oatcake made on June 9th, St Columba's eve. Into this cake went a silver coin. The cake was toasted over a fire made of sacred rowan, yew and oak wood and the child who found the coin in their piece of cake got to keep the year's crop of lambs.   The idea grew because I know families. Imagine what happened if the same child found the coin? Would a mother cheat to see all the children had the coin and so those valuable lambs? Would children fight and fall out for ever because one had the lambs and the other did not? The ideas buzzed inside my head quietly for awhile and I tried to write a story, but the idea grew too big for a short story. It might be a novel though and I wondered about who and what and where,which is when I first began to hear Tizzie's voice, this Yorkshire voice, in my head. Other writers will know what I mean, but it does sound a little crazy, this voices in the head business. It comes about, for me, after a lot of thinking and musing and wondering about a story idea. I will find that a character is coming to life, first as a voice I hear, then as a face I see.Thus Tizzie appeared. Tizzie, the aunt who wanted her niece to get t