Save the last dance: The Notorious Julia Devine

By: Amy Bevan

She was poor. She was outspoken. She was unforgettable.
Walsall, at the turn of the twentieth century.
Born into poverty and raised among the smoke-filled streets, crowded markets and hard-working people of an industrial town, Julia Devine learns early that life will not give her anything easily.
With her father's fiddle as her first introduction to music, Julia discovers that dancing can make people stop and look. But a few moments of joy cannot keep hunger away, and as she grows older, Julia finds herself facing hardship, an unhappy marriage and a husband whose drinking brings fear into the family home.
Yet Julia refuses to disappear.
Known to the police and familiar with the magistrates' court, she becomes a woman whose name travels through Walsall. She fights, argues, speaks her mind and sometimes finds herself on the wrong side of the law. But behind the reputation is a mother determined to protect her children.
Michael, Annie and Johnny each follow very different paths. War brings devastating loss. Poverty follows the family through generations. And Johnny's struggles leave a wound Julia carries for the rest of her life.
As the years pass, the streets she once danced through change around her. Julia grows old, her body becoming frail while her spirit remains fiercely independent. Even when offered the safety of the workhouse, she refuses to surrender the freedom she has fought all her life to keep.
But eventually there comes a final winter.
With Annie at her side, Julia looks back on the people she has loved, the losses she has endured and the life she has somehow survived. In her final moments, one memory remains stronger than all the rest: the music, the market and the girl who once danced simply because she could.
The Notorious Julia Devine is a moving historical novel about poverty, family, resilience, loss and the stubborn courage of a woman who refused to bow.
And Julia has one final message to leave behind:
Keep dancing.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HKWFR6QM
• ISBN13: 9798174952317
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 57 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 0.1" x 6.7"