THE SUTHERLAND SCANDALS 1890

The story opens in Newcastle, Northern England, and we meet J.B. Sutherland—brewer and eventually the owner of the Victorian pub by the River Tyne, The Barley Mow. The family saga is told by his middle daughter, Elizabeth, whose childhood is wonderful until her father suddenly dies, and their eldest illegitimate brother, John Thomas, shows up at their father's funeral to inherit the pub.

Elizabeth is an artistic soul, often at odds with her overpowering older sisters, and she loathes her oldest brother, who takes over the pub by gambling away the profits (Scandal 1). They lose their livelihood and home; the pub must close.

Elizabeth manages to find jobs to keep food on the table, first helping an elderly lady, then with the suffragist movement, designing their posters and promoting their cause. During this time she meets the love of her life: a marine fitter, Percy Neil-Gregory (Scandal 2 according to her sisters, who believe she is marrying beneath her), who, like her, has a dark secret in his family. She married Percy after a long friendship, despite her sisters' disapproval.

During the start of the 19th century, to give her family security, Elizabeth continued to work even when she had her first child, Alice Neil-Gregory. Percy, without discussing it with her, sailed to the USA with her youngest brother, Benjamin, to try and make his fortune (Scandal 3).

With her husband away, she finds herself pregnant for the second time. After many long months of pleading, on the day of her baby Marjorie's birthday, Percy returned from the USA. They move to Yorkshire with their family for a better job; with her saved inheritance from her share of the pub, they are able to buy a small house in Hull. As Elizabeth's daughters grow up, they become skilled in music and drama, and Elizabeth keeps working to pay for their classes. Alice becomes a soubrette on the stages of theatres, and Marjorie, the family seamstress, sews and designs costumes.