The Silk Factory

by Judith Allnatt

  A Postcard from Weedon Bec by Julia Johns, Weedon Bec History Society (2004)

  Weedon Royal Ordnance Depot Revisited by J.E. King, Weedon Bec History Society (1996)

  Storehouse Enclosure, royal Ordnance Depot, Weedon Bec, Conservation Plan Vol II Gazeteer by Liv Gibbs. The Historic Environment Consultancy Adopted 2005

  The Inhuman Taskmaster - A story of Weedon Bec – an article by Victor A. Hatley.

  Like Dew before the Sun - Life and Language in Northamptonshire by Dorothy A. Grimes (1991)

  Workhouses of the Midlands by Peter Higginbotham (2007)

  I am also indebted to the staff of The Silk Mill museum in Derby and Whitchurch Silk Mill in Hampshire, for their patience in answering my many questions and for showing me the operation of looms and other machines.

  In researching the idea of residual haunting (the Stone Tape Theory) I was grateful for the following articles: www.parascience.org.uk/articles/musings.htm, wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Tape and wiki/Apparitional_experience, Recording Ghosts at assap.ac.uk/newsite/articles, forensic-architecture.org/lexicon/stone-tape-theory and What kind of Person sees Ghosts? at patheos.com/blogs/epiphenom.

  In addition, heartfelt thanks are due to my editor, Katie Espiner, for her perceptive comments and suggestions, expert advice and invaluable support, to my agent, Laura Longrigg for her solid belief in my books and for all her efforts on my behalf, also Cassie Browne, Charlotte Cray, Richenda Todd, Linda Joyce, Charlotte Abrams-Simpson and Ann Bissell at HarperCollins, for helping to produce this beautiful book and bring it to its readers; Lucy Anderson and Pat Kent for their good company through many long days at the library; Janet Lambdon, Lynne Jennings, Katie Hill, Susan Foley, Diana Wingrove Owen and Susie Freer for cheering me on, and my family, near and far, for their unstinting encouragement, in particular my husband, Spencer, my son and daughter, James and Lottie, my sister Louise Gillard Owen, my father, Peter Gillard, and lastly, my mother, Isabel Gillard who, though sadly no longer with us, still buoys me up through the legacy of her faith in my writing.

  About the Author

  Judith Allnatt is the acclaimed author of A Mile of River, a Radio Five Live Book of the Month, The Poet’s Wife and The Moon Field. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Portico Prize for Literature and the East Midlands Book Award. Her short stories have featured in the Bridport Prize Anthology, the Commonwealth Short Story Awards and on BBC Radio 4. She lives with her family in rural Northamptonshire.

  www.judithallnatt.co.uk

  : @judithallnatt

  Also by Judith Allnatt

  A Mile of River

  The Poet’s Wife

  The Moon Field

  About the Publisher

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