Elsie Barr is a strong character who we first meet walking from Birmingham to Wednesbury during her desperate search for work. We see life through Elsie's eyes as she struggles to survive in the harsh world of the Black Country in the early 20th century. Elsie must take all the opportunities that life offers as she strives to improve herself. She experiences love, marriage, the joy of motherhood and the despair of infidelity. Through all this, will her resourcefulness lead her from poverty to wealth and onto happiness? Blackcountrywoman is the first in a series of sagas set in the West Midlands and has been inspired by research into the links between the Black Country Birmingham and Herefordshire undertaken by the author, Peter Arblaster.