Books
'An extraordinary debut. I loved it.'
Pip Williams
In the Margins
‘We are the spaces between the words.’
Inspired by a real person, IN THE MARGINS is the story of spirited book-collector, Frances Wolfreston—the woman who uniquely preserved the earliest part of Shakespeare’s legacy.
England, 1647. As civil war gives way to an uneasy peace, and Puritanism becomes the letter of the law, Frances Wolfreston, a rector's wife, is charged with enforcing religious compliance by informing on her parishioners. This awful task triggers memories of her mother, Alice, who inspired Frances’ love of books, and secretly practised Catholicism at great risk. Conflicted, she doesn’t report a reclusive and mysterious midwife to delay her going to gaol.
As Frances takes increasingly bold steps to help the women and children of the parish, she attracts the ire of a patron of the church who questions why Frances collects books that she charges are entertainment. When her mother is gaoled for religious crimes, the secrets Frances hides from her husband begin to surface, and she is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the strict dictates of the new laws, or risk everything to free the women she cares for.
In this tender and powerful work of imagination, the life of a remarkable woman who wrote and lived in the margins in a time where women's voices went unheard is restored to history. Beautifully written and deeply moving, In the Margins is a testament to the way literature can illuminate our inner lives and set us free when the world around us is covered in darkness.
Praise
‘unflinching on the realities of non-aristocratic women's lives in 17th-century England - a society largely run by increasingly paranoid and intolerant men - while filling with quiet heroism the gaps left by history.’ –Sydney Morning Herald
'If you loved Hannah Kent's Burial Rites and Pip Williams' Dictionary of Lost Words, Scottish-born Gail Holmes' debut novel, In the Margins, is likely to hit the spot. …… A compelling and beautifully written story of a spirited, principled women ahead of her time.' - 'Woman on the Edge', Good Weekend Magazine
'Gail Holmes has written a beautiful, compelling and emotionally rich story about a woman who wrote herself into the margins of books at a time when women were voiceless. An extraordinary debut. I loved it.' -Best selling author Pip Williams, author of The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder of Jericho.
‘Sparkling prose and tender clarity make the journey in Frances ‘Frannie’ Wolfreston’s shoes a sheer delight. Gail Holmes’s potent but poignant nod to the pursuit of male approval, urges us to remember that solidarity between women is finespun but resilient. And its lustrous threads carry the necessary strength to weave HIStory with HERS.’ –Sally Colin-James, author of One Illumined Thread
‘A riveting novel of women's solidarity and Shakespeare amidst the societal limitations of Puritan England. Holmes rekindles the intriguing story of Frances Wolfreston in this accomplished debut.’ –Eleanor Limprecht, author of The Coast and The Passengers
‘The significance of this novel goes beyond Holmes’s beautiful narrative voice and illuminates a hero known to us solely because the real Frances Wolfreston signed her name in each of her books. In an era marked by low female literacy rates and limited women’s ownership rights, this highlights the immense value Wolfreston placed on her books and underscores our progress since then. This deeply moving debut will appeal to fans of Pip Williams’ The Bookbinder of Jericho and Kayte Nunn’s The Silk House.’ –Books+Publishing
‘In lyrical, powerful prose, Gail Holmes lures us into the repressive world of seventeenth-century England, bringing it to life through the eyes of Frances Wolfreston, rector’s wife, keeper of secrets, collector of books and careful observer. Beautifully written, In the Margins is a captivating novel: vivid, wise and moving.’ –Suzanne Leal, author of The Watchful Wife and The Deceptions