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1850s – 1870s: A young baby is abandoned in an alleyway in London..
The Mistletoe Seller
What you need to know before your trail
It’s Christmas Eve and the cobbled streets of Whitechapel are covered with snow.An abandoned baby, swaddled in a blanket, is found on a doorstep in Angel Lane . . .
Named after the street on which she was found, Angel Winter is lucky to be rescued by a loving family. fShe’s happy there for a while, until fate creeps in and she is forced out from the only safe haven she has ever known and into the streets of London. She takes to the streets of Convent Garden and tries to scrap a living selling mistletoe. She is living on the little bit of luck she has but that is running out.
She barely gets by – but the one thing which could save her is a ring, found in her swaddling as an abandoned child – something which could identify her and her family one day. But how can you put a price on who you are even if it could save you from starvation or worse.
Locations
Reset- England - London
- A: Angel Alley
- B: Spital Square
- C: White's Row
- D: Covent Garden
- E: Maddox St
- F: Seven Dials
Travel Guide
1850s London
Dilly Court’s London is awash with detail and nuances which place you right at the heart of her London and more importantly, her community of characters.
Whitechapel
A poor area of the city – this was just 30 years or so before the horrors of Jack the Ripper – and the streets here are just as cruel for those with no money or lodgings. Angel is a small baby found in an alleyway and rescued and taken away from the cobbles, the cold and the dark streets. She has no one until a woman kindly takes her in and offers her a home.
Spitalfields
A much nicer part of the city where Angel goes to live with her new family. It’s not a cheery home but it’s a warm and safe one. “It had never been filled with music and laughter but now he only sound is the servant’s footsteps”
Covent Garden
The hustle and bustle of the market place is the ideal place to sell your wares or to try and make a living by selling flowers, scraps of ribbon etc. Angel gravitates here for there are crowds for her to blend into and flowers to sell Mistletoe. It’s here she meets Dolly and the two make a life long friendship
English countryside
The novel then takes place out of London in two large fictional houses – Grantley Hall and Woodward Hall. These are two grand houses where she lives for a while and or visits. Her roles here change with the fate of the house and its inhabitants but it’s here, in the grand gothic homes that she works alongside some great characters (snobby ones too mind) including the wonderfully named Lumpy Lill.
Streetview Maps
A) London - Angel Alley
D) London - Covent Garden
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailerr
I do love a Dilly Court novel as it’s like stepping back in time. I think I’ve not only learned but experienced periods of social history I might never have otherwise.
Her characters also shine – Angel here is the narrator throughout and a lovely girl we get to know gradually as she meets various people who will help shape her life in some way. She’s a strong character and has some obstacles to get past. I felt really sorry for her at times, but happy when she met friends and that Lumpy Lil! Ha there’s just some characters in a novel you really want to meet!
There are some twists too to enjoy and I gasped out at one of them in particular! No wonder the girl on the cover looks so miserable I thought – I can see why now.
There is lots to this novel, but in the end it’s a really nice Christmas story set in a real period of history and amidst the struggles of those who sold trinkets at Convent Garden. There are some wonderful characters and relationships in this novel. Dolly and Angel’s friendship in particular.
A great Christmas novel and one to read anytime really as apart from the mistletoe and snow, you can read it anytime – it’s more of a novel about the trials and tribulations of a girl who fights to take her rightful place in the world and I was championing her all the way through. Would that girl on the cover raise a smile I wondered? Not really as that would be a bit Dorian Gray, but I was routing for her!
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Mistletoe Seller
Destination: London Author/Guide: Dilly Court Departure Time: 1830s, 1850s
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