Character Showcase - Mary and Ivy

Readers of BESPOKE will already be familiar with Lucy Greenwood’s faithful helpers, Mary and Ivy. As her cake design business and tea shop continue to grow, Lucy’s assistants have become even more important to her success and greatly appreciated.

Mary Hobson agreed to leave her parents’ farm to work for Lucy when “Bespoke Temptations” was nothing more than a twinkle in Miss Greenwood’s eye. Her no-nonsense character provides our heroine with a steady, dependable ally and keeps the shop running whenever Lucy has to go out.

Mary is hard of hearing, but she never lets that stand in her way – not now that Lucy’s encouragement and friendship has helped her come out of her shell.  Once she was called “Mardy Mary” because folk usually encountered her in a cross temper, refusing to speak to anybody, but now that she has found a place for herself in the world – independent of the family that made no effort to understand her, and often belittled or took advantage of the girl-- she is much happier and more fulfilled.  She is devoted to Lucy and won’t hear a word against her, but she is also in possession of a wry sense of humor, with which she occasionally teases her mistress. Especially now that she is more confident in her own skin and not afraid to use her voice.

Ivy Dimmock was once a workhouse orphan. She also briefly held a post as a scullery maid, but now she makes her home with Lucy and Mary at “Bespoke Temptations”. She’s very young and still has much to learn, but she is eager, cheerfully undaunted by her shortcomings, and seems to soak up information like a sponge. As long as she’s paying attention and not day-dreaming! She’s a merry,

optimistic soul, despite her unhappy, impoverished beginnings, and she’s eternally grateful to Lucy for giving her a fresh start in life.  Occasionally she lets something burn on the range and feels the sharp edge of Mary’s impatient tongue, but mostly she glides through the shop -- proud in her fancy, new waitressing uniform – and gleefully seizes any new opportunity to learn (or chocolate smeared spoon) with both hands.  Like Mary, she’s not afraid of hard work and she’s intensely loyal to her mistress. She dreams of one day enjoying a grand romance, but as Lucy tells her, she’d better learn to make a living for herself first, and stand on her own two clogs, before she gets starry-eyed over any man.

As “Bespoke Temptations” continues to find success, Lucy’s assistants will play an even greater role in her story. They might even find  some little romances of their own along the way. After all, Lucy can't have all the fun.

Be reunited with Mary and Ivy on July 5^th, when A LOVELINESS OF LADYBIRDS (A Bespoke novel) is released.

 (Images here: The Housewife, by Frederick Walker 1871 and A Maid Sweeping by Henry Meynell Rheam.)