Parliament of Rooks
by Karen Perkins
No matter how hard life is, humanity has the power to make it better – or even worse.Parliament of Rooks, the new historical paranormal novel in the award-winning Yorkshire Ghosts series, contrasts the beautiful, inspiring village of Haworth today with the slum – or rookery – it was during the industrial revolution: rife with disease, heartache, poverty, and employing child slavery in the mills.In 2017, life expectancy in the UK is 81.In 1848 Haworth, it was 22.Nine-year-old Harry Sutcliff hates working at Rooks Mill and is forever in trouble for running away to the wide empty spaces of the moors – empty but for the song of the skylark, the antics of the rabbits, and the explorations of Emily Brontë. Bound together by their love of the moors, Emily and Harry develop a lasting friendship, but not everyone is happy about it – especially Martha, Harry's wife.As Martha's jealous rages grow in ferocity, Harry does not realise the danger he is in. A hundred and fifty years later, this...