Even during hard times, determination can get you where you want…

Synopsis

Dolly Perkins and Jack Larkin have grown up in the notorious gin palaces of Birmingham.

It’s a world of happiness and friendship, but also violence and poverty. Now that Dolly runs the Daydream Gin Palace on Gin Barrel Lane she can finally control her own destiny, but sometimes fate still plays its hand. 

Keen to expand her empire, Dolly and Jack take on a new pub, but they are in for a shock when a foul smell in one of the bedrooms turns out to come from a body hidden in the wall. 

As the police hunt for their suspect, rumours abound, spread by the local urchins – happy to be used as runners for a little bit of food and a coin or two. 

But rumours can be dangerous, and as one of the worst winters on record covers everything in snow, Dolly and Jack have to fight for the lives they have made for themselves, and for the urchins that they have come to think of as family.  Will the arrival of a new baby on Gin Barrel Lane bring the promise of new hope, or will the long-awaited thaw uncover new secrets and new tragedies…

The Queen of Black Country sagas is back on Gin Barrel Lane with a rip-roaring, heart-warming, page-turning story of family, friendship and beating the odds. Perfect for fans of Val Wood and Lyn Andrews.

My review

Dolly Perkins was a lucky child when Jack Larkin, a child himself, found her, and made sure that his mother Nellie Larking, took Dolly in.
Now Dolly has opened her own Daydream Gin palace and is keen on expanding her empire, with Jack and Nellie by her side.
No matter how big her dreams are, in the new pub a body has been hidden and now discovered, and rumours of what happened spread around town, with the help of the runners, ready to gain a coin here and there.
But the body isn’t the only danger lurking around the corner as jealousy is fuelling their nemeses and he surely is eager to take Dolly and her loved ones down.
However, Dolly shows her strength and learns during the cold winter what love is and what she is risking to lose because of not daring to face her own emotions.
Dolly is ready to fight to make a success out of her business, but is also keen to take care of all the people she cares about. 

I know that whenever I read something from this author, it won’t be a walk in the park.

Again this is a book that pinpoints perfectly the hardness of life, the challenges someone has to endure and the fight they have to keep on having to gain their happiness.
This is the second part of the series, but can be perfectly be read as a standalone, because the missing pieces of the puzzle will be filled in when necessary.

We find Dolly now as a young woman, ready to make a success of her businesses. With the help of Jack and Nellie, she is always determined to find the next place she can turn into gold.
I admired how she managed to turn her cards into her own advantage, but what I loved the most about Dolly is how she never forgets those in need.
Even is sometimes she is too hastened in her decisions for my liking, eventually it is clear that her decision are for the benefits of those who need a helping hand.
She never forgets where she came from and is generous in spreading her wealth.

By never forgetting where she came from, she has her best friend in Jack. Growing up together has formed an unbreakable bond, until Dolly starts to flirt a little bit too much for Jack’s liking.
And this caused a breach between the two of them, having me crossing my fingers that eventually the air would be cleared and that the obvious match would be made. 

Of course, a story has to have a bad guy, and in a terrible way, I found it funny how Ezra Moreton was fuelled and fooled by his own urge for success, making his selfishness and hunger for more money his own downfall. And I surely wasn’t feeling sorry with the way his life turned out to be. 

This story shows us as a reader that no matter what happened in the past, with a certain amount of determination and with the right people by your side, you can change the course of your own life. Sometimes you have to charge of your own life and not just sit back and see wait fate has in store for you.
And this story is the perfect example of how someone in the different era did just that.
This surely was again a gripping, enthralling, heart – warming story with lovely characters and lots of proof of courage and love.