May Turnbull had been born and raised in Cedar Street. When the chance came for her to better herself in Rose's soft furnishing workroom, she seized it with everything she had. At home with her father crippled in a mine accident, a mother who kept the family together by taking in laundry and two sisters, May was determined that she was going to succeed.
When Aaron Rose, wealthy young heir to Rose's Furniture Emporium, saw May for the first time, he realised she was different, special. Adroitly, with all the skills of an experienced charmer, he set out to win her, half promising a lifetime's love and marriage. It was - almost - to be the end of May's dreams. But through the cruel times that followed, May and her family drew on all the gutsy strength of Cedar Street to go forward to their new life.
''Hawksmoor' is the fictional name for the industrial Yorkshire town of Huddersfield where I grew up,' says the author Aileen Armitage. 'I was captivated by its history and the curious fact that the town was owned by one family right up until the 1920's. My dad used to tell me tales as we walked on the surrounding moors about our family's climb from rags to riches and their subsequent decline. Can I help it if my passion for the West Riding and its history shows a story of love and hatred, tragedy and triumph?'
