The Black Thread by Margaret Muir | Books & magazines
The Black Thread by Margaret Muir
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Reviews
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25.01.2022 FREE FREE on Kindle for 48 hours. Set on a Yorkshire canal in 1895, THE BLACK THREAD is: A well written story with mysterious twists and shocking turns that gives a feeling of factuality rather than fiction.
23.01.2022 I was very pleased to learn that Amazon UK had chosen YORKSHIRE GRIT to include in its Amazon Kindles Summer eBook Sale. YORKSHIRE GRIT will be available until 31 August for only 99p. The three full length novels are: SEA DUST, THE BLACK THREAD and THROUGH GLASS EYES. Im sorry Amazon is not running the same deal in on its US site. MM
23.01.2022 The Black Thread by Margaret Muir is one of those gorgeously rare stories that keeps bubbling along with unfolding detail designed to capture and tease all who take pride at being able to visualise what will come next. Set in Yorkshire just prior to the 20th century this book will engage the reader with beautiful descriptive local detail woven into a well timed fictional saga of deprivation, loss, escape, fear and discovery. Plus The Black Thread holds an extra treat via a very standard build-up to the usual happy-ever-after being interrupted and replaced with the most unexpected and grandly wonderful catch and capture imaginable. Simply marvellous; five stars. Thank you, EA Harwik http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Th//B008NAFWSE/ref=sr_1_1
22.01.2022 A special Amazon Kindle promotion of three highly successful novels (94 reviews) set in Britain in the dark days of the 1800s. The Boxset is on sale for 5 days only for just $1.99 (US) and 1.99 (UK). Not available in Australia.
20.01.2022 Having read one of my other books, a reader wrote: Well, you have done it again, brought me down to a crying baby with The Black Thread, it was so lovely, and the characters were so nice...except for a couple that is. I started reading it about 10.30pm last night, had some sleep, woke at 7.45am and did not get out of bed till 10.15am today...I just had to finish it. Next one to read is the Sea Dust...right beside my bed ready to go tonight.Will I need tissues??? Pic - a pair or horses earmuffs hand-made in lace by an English craftswoman - these items once decorated the boat-horses who toiled on the canals banks.
17.01.2022 British canals. Caen Hill Locks are a flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal (Wiltshire, England). The canal was built between 1794 and 1810. The last section to be completed was the steep hill rising up to Devizes. The 29 locks have a rise of 237 feet in 2 miles (72 m in 3.2 km) or a 1 in 44 gradient. There are in three groups. The pic shows the sixteen locks which form the steepest flight in a straight line up the hillside. Barges were once the main form of transport for all manner of raw materials and manufactured right across Britain. But by the late 1800s they had mostly been superceded by steam and rail and many fell into disrepair. Today they have been restored and are popular for tourist travel (if you are not in a hurry).
15.01.2022 Boat-horses on canals - can pull up to 50 tons! The boat-horse (often a shire horse which was the largest of the draught horses) was the reason why the canals where such important navigations in the 1800s. A cart horse could pull a load of 2 tons on land, but a good boat-horse can pull thirty to fifty tons on water. The change to steam power saw the demise not only of the horses, but also the canals which fell into disrepair. Eventually many were filled in.
14.01.2022 Here is my design for the forthcoming new Kindle KDP edition of THE BALCK THREAD. This historical novel is set on the Leeds/Liverpool canal in the dark days of the 1890s. Its a fairly Gothic story involving barges, bargees and boathorses, and a girl who runs away from home and tries to hide along the canals bank. I purchased this image from BIGSTOCK PHOTOS for only a few dollars - the image represents an old photograph which is found during the story. I love this picture.
13.01.2022 Covers should reveal something of the atmosphere of a story. The previous softback cover of THE BLACK THREAD only showed a set of canal locks. But it totally lacked human interest. This proposed picture is of a girl sitting in what appears to be a hatchway (on a boat or barge). She appears to be waiting for something or someone. Her mood is pensive. She is alone. It is early morning. I chose to use fine script for the words, The Black Thread as the font is as fine and curl...y as a piece of black cotton thread. Plus, the scrolled writing style is meant to suggest a bygone era. THE BLACK THREAD is a rather dark historical novel set on the Leeds/Liverpool canal in 1895. I purchased the image from Big Stock photos. See more
12.01.2022 A review of THE BLACK THREAD is included in the latest HNS list. Thank you HNS and Tina Huckle http://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/the-black-thread/
12.01.2022 For 50 years, from the beginning of the 1900s, the British canals slowly fell into disrepute and no longer competed with rail as a means of transportation. They became rat-infested, foul smelling waterways filled with detritus and sometimes bodies. Boat horses disappeared - replaced by steam and the large barges became obsolete. Growing up in Leeds in the 50s, the old Leeds Liverpool canal was known to be a dangerous place - best avoided - as were the bargees who once made ...their livings and raised their families on the canal. Fortunately, today, the scene has changed. The canals are clean, and the modern and colourful narrowboats that navigate the waters are apopular mode of holiday transport. The story "The Black Thread" is set in the old days when businesses needed the barges and horses were the means of power. Pics from Wikipedia. See more
11.01.2022 It was on a visit to the UK in 2006 that I got the idea for writing THE BLACK THREAD - it was first published in the UK in hardback in 2007. Pleased to be able to present it now as an e-book.
11.01.2022 Surprised and delighted to see that someone or organisation ordered 19 print copies of the The Black Thread today. Thank you, whoever you are. I hope you will enjoy this story.
11.01.2022 While this story has shades of black and white in its pages, it is an enduring tale which many of you have enjoyed as a stand-alone novel or as past of the trio of Yorkshire yarns in YORKSHIRE GRIT. I wanted to say a special thank you to those of the 106 readers who left a review. They are much appreciated. While I have ventured further afield than the canals of Britain and now spend my energy writing sea stories, I have not forgotten my British heritage and after 50 years li...ving Down Under, I still speak with a Yorkshire accent. Love to you all. MM https://www.amazon.co.uk/YORKSHIRE-GRIT-Trilo//ref=sr_1_1 See more
10.01.2022 FREE for 4 days. Amos Dodd has a dark secret that runs deeper than the murky waters of the canal. If Amy is to escape his clutches she must uncover the truth before it is too late. http://goo.gl/Uw6UIl
10.01.2022 The traditional craft of the boatmen of the British canals dates back to the days of the horse-drawn barges and reflects and influence of Romney gypsies.
09.01.2022 FREE for 2 days THE BLACK THREAD In 1896, the waterways of the North of England are dark and dismal places and, like the unsavoury characters who inhabit them, best to be avoided. But for Amy, the canal offers the only means of escape from the evil man pursuing her. http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Th//B008NAFWSE/ref=sr_1_1
08.01.2022 FREE on Kindle for 5 days: Living in a mill town, Amys life is dogged by tragedy. Her only path of escape is along the path that runs beside the canals black water. But despite her efforts, the man she hates and despises stalks her. Only by uncovering the shocking truth about him can she escape his clutches and turn her life around. http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Th//B008NAFWSE/ref=sr_1_2
07.01.2022 FREE FREE all weekend on Kindle. Something dark and different - a story set on a Yorkshire canal in 1895. Please enjoy.
05.01.2022 Thank you to all those who have taken up the FREE offer on THE BLACK THREAD. Im delighted to see it has made #51 on the free list and is #1 in Historical and #1 in Historical Fiction. Still available free for 3 more days.
05.01.2022 Over the 5 days of the free promo, over 1700 readers took up the offer. Thank you all. I hope you will enjoy reading it. Coming later this month a free promotion of The Condors Feather.
05.01.2022 First published in UK in hardback, THE BLACK THREAD is now available in paperback and as an E-Book from Amazon.
03.01.2022 Thank you to everyone who downloaded a free copy of THE BLACK THREAD. Would love some feedback, if anyone has the time.
03.01.2022 Where does a writers inspiration come from? Last week, I visited Norfolk Island and spent some time wandering through the old graveyard where the early British settlers and descendants of the Mutineers from the Bounty (Pitcairners) were buried. That visit reminded me of the time, when, as a child, I held my fathers hand and walked between the gravestones in the local cemetery. One of his favourite pastimes was reading the inscriptions carved on old tombstones. It was this indelible childhood memory which I used to create one of the main threads when I wrote THE BLACK THREAD". In this fiction story, an old man, searching for something particular in a graveyard, makes a remarkable discovery.
03.01.2022 This is the new cover image for the paperback edition of THE BLACK THREAD available for Lulu.com.
01.01.2022 It was during a visit to the UK in 2006 that I was inspired to write the novel, THE BLACK THREAD. It was first published in UK in 2007. Now I am pleased it is available as both an e-book and paperback.
