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A review by andrewspink
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I heard about this book on the brilliant podcast "Backlisted". It is set is South-east Yorkshire (not South Yorkshire as you might think), roughly the area which used to be North Humberside. My father, and several generations before him, came from that region (Goole, just a bit up river from Hull - or Kingsport, as it is called in the book).
The book has a strong woman as a central character (which I guess was quite unusual for its age, it was published in 1936) and a whole set of other interesting and complex people. The setting is local government, specifically the county council, which you might think would be unutterably boring, but actually that means it is all about power and relationships and poverty and pride and a whole lot else. To get an idea of how important that all is, you only have to take a look at the grand town halls in the big cities of Northern England from the 19th century.
A lot of the characters speak to each other in local dialect. That is difficult to do well. If the dialogue is written too literally, then it becomes incomprehensible and if just the odd word is thrown in to standard English, then it is not convincing. Winifred Holtby manages to capture the rhythm of the speech with judicious use of a few words like 'nobbut' (understandable to everyone, I suppose) added, and that is very well done.
Several of the councillors are local preachers or otherwise active in the Wesleyan church. Round about when this book was published, various branches of the UK Methodist church, principally the Wesleyans and the Primitive Methodist were united into one church. The Wesleyans were the closes to Anglicans; less identified with the trade unions and similar than the 'prims' and more concerned with status and power. They come across very negatively in the book, with large amounts of hypocrisy, pomposity and self-interest and are contrasted with the positive mind-set of the non-religious (at least in the sense of organised religion) main character, the headmistress. Despite the negative gloss on the Methodist, I still enjoyed reading those passages. It was the Wesleyanism of my grandfather that was clearly portrayed here.
I am so happy that I discovered this book through Backlisted. It really is a gem.
The book has a strong woman as a central character (which I guess was quite unusual for its age, it was published in 1936) and a whole set of other interesting and complex people. The setting is local government, specifically the county council, which you might think would be unutterably boring, but actually that means it is all about power and relationships and poverty and pride and a whole lot else. To get an idea of how important that all is, you only have to take a look at the grand town halls in the big cities of Northern England from the 19th century.
A lot of the characters speak to each other in local dialect. That is difficult to do well. If the dialogue is written too literally, then it becomes incomprehensible and if just the odd word is thrown in to standard English, then it is not convincing. Winifred Holtby manages to capture the rhythm of the speech with judicious use of a few words like 'nobbut' (understandable to everyone, I suppose) added, and that is very well done.
Several of the councillors are local preachers or otherwise active in the Wesleyan church. Round about when this book was published, various branches of the UK Methodist church, principally the Wesleyans and the Primitive Methodist were united into one church. The Wesleyans were the closes to Anglicans; less identified with the trade unions and similar than the 'prims' and more concerned with status and power. They come across very negatively in the book, with large amounts of hypocrisy, pomposity and self-interest and are contrasted with the positive mind-set of the non-religious (at least in the sense of organised religion) main character, the headmistress. Despite the negative gloss on the Methodist, I still enjoyed reading those passages. It was the Wesleyanism of my grandfather that was clearly portrayed here.
I am so happy that I discovered this book through Backlisted. It really is a gem.