Golden Straw

Product Description

It all began with a straw hat. A large broad-brimmed hat dyed in an elusive mixture of colours to produce a distinctive shade of pale gold it was presented to Emily Pearson by her long-time friend & employer Mabel Arkwright milliner & modiste whose establishment under the name of The Bandbox was situated in a discreet corner of the West End of London. & it was to her employer
- known to her clientele as Madam Arkwright
- that Emily owed not only the gift of The Golden Straw as it had been named but eventually the business itself for her friend had more & more come to rely upon her as time went by. After Mabel Arkwrights death Emily exhausted by the extra work that had fallen upon her shoulders & exasperated by Dr Steve Montane her late employers young & plain-spoken physician took herself off to the South of France to stay at an hotel previously & warmly recommended by Mrs Arkwright. It was now 1880 & many fashionable guests were staying at the hotel in Nice among them Paul Anderson Steerman. It was from the balcony of his room that he first noticed The Golden Straw worn by Emily as she arrived from Engl&. But although it was the hat that first held his attention his admiring gaze quickly turned to Emily herself & throughout the time of his stay he paid her unceasing attention. But Paul Anderson Steerman was not all he seemed to be & he was to bring nothing but disgrace & tragedy to Emily for the traumatic months following her return to England were but a prelude to a series of events that would influence the destiny not only of her children but her grandchildren too as the new century dawned the First World War came & went & still she was alive to reflect on all that had resulted from the gift of the hat.