The Rag Boiler's Daughter

Book excerpt: A sweeping account of Irish and Scottish families, The Rag Boiler's Daughter portrays one woman's resolve to provide her children with a brighter future. This story follows Maggie Gilliland from her birth in Denny, Scotland in 1865 and spans the factories of 19th Century Scotland, the Irish War of Independence, two world wars and a family's migration to Lithgow, Australia. The daughter of a rag boiler and an iron miner, Maggie herself was the mother of seventeen children - nearly half of whom she buried. Touched by an epic string of losses and blessings, Maggie strove towards the hope of giving her surviving children a better life as she gave them the very best of herself. Maggie's story is timeless. Starting with the determination of working class people to improve their conditions, this story begins with Maggie's mother insisting that her daughter learn to read. With succinct historic accounts coloured by intimate emotional conflicts, Shepheard draws a map around her family history, inviting readers to glimpse a portrait familiar to so many whose common roots meet as the children of migrants. As one of the 2011 IP Picks judges raved: 'By the end of the story, I am in love with this family, their curious and complex relationships and their unabated hope'.