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chramies's review against another edition
3.0
Read this or under its alternative title "Little England" many years ago. SKS is somewhere between the rural gothic of Mary Webb and those who came after her - as well as having beaten Stella Gibbons at her own game - and might be better known if she hadn't been sidetracked by religiious concerns. The portrayal of a nation at war (unlike Mary Webb she's writing of her own time) and people at the margins of society, both women (she was known for writing independent female characters so got reprinted by Virago a few years back) but also men (the requirements upon a man in that society being practically as restricting).
Tom is described as 'queer' which doesn't mean what it does now - or does it? It means 'not conforming' and whether that's sexually or not is another matter.
The other thing i need to know is whether, as I suspect, it is in the pages of SKS that you find the hanging tree and the ghosts in the branches and the owl who predicts a death. As she became a devout Catholic later on it seems less likely, but maybe it is.
Tom is described as 'queer' which doesn't mean what it does now - or does it? It means 'not conforming' and whether that's sexually or not is another matter.
The other thing i need to know is whether, as I suspect, it is in the pages of SKS that you find the hanging tree and the ghosts in the branches and the owl who predicts a death. As she became a devout Catholic later on it seems less likely, but maybe it is.
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