The Narrowboat Girl

By: Annie Murray

Narrated by: Annie Aldington

Maryann Nelson's widowed mother, Flo, sees the opportunity to better her family by marrying the local undertaker, Norman Griffin. Though on the surface a caring family man, Maryann and her sister, Sal, soon discover that he has another side to him. For Sal, it is too much to bear and she escapes, leaving Maryann to take revenge on Norman Griffin.

The chance of a new life opens up when she befriends Joel Batholomew, who works on the canal. Aboard his narrowboat, she finds herself falling in love with her new life. Then Joel's feelings for Maryann begin to change, awakening all the old nightmares that she had long thought buried. The Narrowboat Girl is warm-hearted storytelling at its very best, and a testament to the overwhelming power of true love and its ability to overcome suffering.

©2001 Annie Murray (P)2001 Soundings

a girls book

This book kept my attention - made me root for the main character. It deals with sex abuse (not a light subject), but it was worth the ending. I recommend it.

The Narrowboat Girl

Story line good if a little depressing. Narration brought the characters to life and was excellent.

Interesting story

I really enjoyed this book, It captured the magic of the canals. The narration was very good and although the child abuse is hard to listen to we can’t close our ears or eyes to this horror and I would recommend this book.

Inspiring and chilling novel

I picked this novel originally because I love the romance of Britain's narrowboats. There is very little of that here. HOWEVER, I was pleased to find much more in this novel: a strong, well-paced story with an excellent plot line. The characters are the real pleasure here - flesh and blood characters that embody strength as well as weakness so are familiar and believable. Even the "good" and "evil" characters are humanized in that way. Some aspects of the story are chilling - the impact of sexual abuse especially - in part because they are accurately portrayed. Readers will despair at the evil but be inspired by the good in The Narrowboat Girl.