Salt of the earth - Michael Taylor

Lucy Piddock meets Arthur Goodrich, solid and reliable, a stonemason and regular churchgoer. As far as her family and friends are concerned, Arthur appears to be the ideal match. But he is prone to one calamity after another - hardly the man of her dreams - and Lucy remains lukewarm. Unbeknownst to Arthur, she holds out for Dickie Dempster, the dashing guard she fancies who works on the newly constructed railway.
Prompted by Lucy's rejection and another row with his father, Arthur leaves home in Brierley Hill to seek a new life - and perhaps even a new love - in Bristol, leaving Lucy free to pursue her dream of happiness with Dickie Dempster.
Only when tragedy strikes does Lucy begin to understand which way her true feelings lie. By which time it is surely too late . . .
'It's about time a man wrote romantic fiction - Michael Taylor does it superbly.' Edwina Currie