Queenie of Norwich

The novel follows one woman across three identities and three decades in early 20th-century England, tracing her path from the slums of Norwich to the traveling fairgrounds and back again.

The story opens in January 1906 in Queen Caroline's Yard, Norwich, where six-year-old Ellen Hardy lives with her parents and eight siblings in a windowless, mould-covered home. Ellen adores her older sister Florrie, the only family member who shows her warmth, and cares for her when Florrie falls ill. Ellen is sharp with numbers and fiercely self-reliant, though her mother, Mary, openly resents her, calling her a waste of space. When Ellen calculates aloud that her parents spend nine shillings a week at the pub, Mary slaps her and later whispers over the sleeping girl that she hopes Ellen never wakes up. Ellen's father, Robbie, a quiet shoemaker and former soldier, remains passive throughout.

In March, Ellen is left alone to care for Mary during a difficult labor. She times contractions and fetches the neighbor Mrs Jeffries, but the baby, Maude, is stillborn. Ellen discovers the grey, waxy corpse in a dresser drawer, an image that haunts her for years. She attends school intermittently, finding it too easy, and earns canings for doing arithmetic in her head instead of writing on her slate. In October, Ellen contracts whooping cough and is quarantined upstairs, where Mary neglects her. After five days without food, she sneaks downstairs for a stale crust of bread and chokes on it the next morning. Mary freezes instead of helping. Ellen's older brother Arthur arrives, dislodges the bread, and pins Mary against the wall, telling her she nearly let her own child die.

In December 1906, Mary tells Ellen to pack a bag and dress in her best frock. Ellen notices a brown envelope of money on the table, payment for handing her over to a woman named Julia. Florrie sobs and clings to Ellen, sensing she will not return. Mary leads Ellen to Oak Street, where Julia Westrop arrives in a green velvet coat and takes Ellen's hand. Julia leads her to the cattle market behind Norwich Castle, where brightly painted wagons are assembled, and tells Ellen this is her new home: the traveling fair. Julia bathes Ellen, burns her old clothes, and introduces her to the showman's wagon. Julia's husband, Henry Westrop, a tall, thin man with an enormous moustache, greets Ellen warmly. Julia explains she met Mary in a pub and offered to take Ellen because the Westrops have no children of their own. That evening, Henry hitches horses to the wagon and they leave Norwich. Ellen presses her face to the back window, watching the castle disappear, realizing her mother never told her she would be leaving the city.

Part 2 opens in March 1910 with Ellen now called Nellie Westrop, age 10, fully absorbed into fair life. Julia manages the accounts while Henry runs the family shooting gallery, inherited from his father. Nellie proves invaluable with numbers, eventually helping manage the takings. Henry's brother Will and Will's wife Sophia run a coconut shy, a stall where players throw balls to knock coconuts off stands, and become additional family figures for Nellie. At the Wisbech fair, Nellie explores on her own, visiting Prince Samonda's hoopla, a ring-toss game. Prince Samonda is a legendary Black illusionist who once traveled with Barnum and Bailey's circus. When the fair returns to Norwich at Easter, Nellie reunites with Florrie and meets her four-year-old brother Freddie for the first time, coaxing the shy boy into the wagon with gingerbread. She walks Freddie back to the yard, where Mary greets her coldly, calling Julia her "pretend mummy." Nellie feels only relief as she leaves.

Over the following months in 1910, the Westrops travel to fairs across eastern England. At a Braintree fair, a double-booking with a religious revival group draws larger crowds than usual. At Beccles, Nellie witnesses a man fall into the machinery of a roundabout and is deeply shaken.

By January 1914, Henry's health has seriously deteriorated from an unspecified illness. Julia moves the family north to her cousin Chrissy's farm, driving the wagon through snow-covered mountain passes. Nellie and Julia take grueling 12-hour shifts at a cotton mill while Henry wastes away. Julia finally acknowledges Henry is dying and arranges to transport him to the midsummer fair in Cambridge for one last visit. Henry shoots a perfect shot from his wheelchair, drawing cheers. That night, he tells his family he loves them. He dies after the fair closes, having waited for its sounds to end.

Four days later, Julia tells Nellie she can no longer care for her: The shooting gallery and wagon are being sold to Will, and Julia plans to return north to work at the mill. Florrie has written that their mother is seriously ill, their father has abandoned the family, and Florrie's fiancé Joe, a fairground worker, refuses to take in Freddie. Julia puts Nellie on a train to Norwich, telling her at the platform, "You're Nellie Westrop, and don't you forget it" (220).

Nellie returns to find her family relocated to a terraced house on Ely Street. Her father has disappeared, Arthur has died from illness, and Mary is bedridden. Nellie becomes caretaker for her mother and 12-year-old Freddie, cycling through factory jobs, including work at a munitions factory during the war. In August 1914, she waves her brother Albert off to war. Afterward, Freddie has a severe asthma attack, and a shopkeeper advises that the damp house is worsening his condition. Albert is later killed in the war. After another near-fatal attack in 1917, a doctor insists Freddie cannot stay. Nellie's friend and coworker Olive Barstone's wealthy mother arranges for Freddie to live with her parents in Wales, where clean air restores his health and he eventually attends university.

Part 3 opens in February 1924 with Nellie, now 24, living alone and working at a button factory, saving obsessively in a shoe box labeled "self-made." Her mother has died. At the market, she argues with a large fruit seller named Barny over the price of apples. They meet again at a birthday party hosted by Olive, where Barny hints at a business opportunity. A month later at a pub, Barny, whose real name is Ernest, offers Nellie a job as a runner for his illegal off-course betting operation. She accepts, and her savings double in two months. Barny promotes her to managing accounts.

In September 1924, Barny proposes marriage as a business partnership, offering a fifty-fifty split. Nellie accepts after confirming she will maintain her independence. Julia travels from the north and Fred from Wales for the wedding. Their partnership is tested when Barny invests all their savings in property without consulting her. Nellie delivers a firm ultimatum: Break the agreement again, and she will leave. A police raid on their betting shop forces Nellie to escape through a window with the cash. The newspaper dubs her the "Queen Bee," and she becomes known as Queenie Read.

After five miscarriages, a hospital examination in 1933 reveals Nellie has a bicornuate, or heart-shaped, womb, making it nearly impossible to carry to full term. Barny comforts her and shows her the flat he has built for them, complete with large windows, a balcony overlooking Norwich, and a bathtub with hot water, fulfilling her lifelong dream of a proper home.

In June 1933, Nellie delivers Florrie's baby, Barbara. Florrie grows weaker after the birth and asks Nellie to care for Barbara. In November, Nellie finds Florrie dead in her bed. At the funeral, Joe threatens to send Barbara to an orphanage if Nellie refuses to raise her. Nellie and Barny agree to take the child.

In December 1933, Nellie tells Barny she has lived under many names, but the one she always wanted most was "Mum." Barbara reaches up and wraps her tiny fingers around Nellie's, holding on as if she will never let go.