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Elmet is a wonderful debut novel! I loved it. The story opens with a piece of a Ted Hughes poem, Remains of Elmet:
'Elmet was the last independent Celtic kingdom in England and originally stretched out over the vale of York...But even in the seventeenth century this narrow cleft and its side-gunnels, under the glaciated moors, were still a 'badlands', a sanctuary for refugees from the law'
Elmet is the contemporary story of Daddy, Cathy, and Daniel living in the badlands of York in a house that Daddy built in a copse of land. Daddy no longer works for anyone but himself. He makes his way in life, providing for his young children by both working the land, and by fighting and winning prize money in arranged bare-knuckled fights, where it's a fight until one's surrender or one's death. But Daddy is a kind-hearted person, while he is also fearful of others, as he maintains he and his family's privacy. Life turns ugly when one of the wealthy area landowners, Mr. Price, pays Daddy a visit at home to tell him he's squatting on his land. In this part of York, there are no police and no laws but what rules the locals enforce on their own which make this story dark and suspenseful. It reminded me of an old 1970s movie with Dustin Hoffman called "Straw Dogs."
'Elmet was the last independent Celtic kingdom in England and originally stretched out over the vale of York...But even in the seventeenth century this narrow cleft and its side-gunnels, under the glaciated moors, were still a 'badlands', a sanctuary for refugees from the law'
Elmet is the contemporary story of Daddy, Cathy, and Daniel living in the badlands of York in a house that Daddy built in a copse of land. Daddy no longer works for anyone but himself. He makes his way in life, providing for his young children by both working the land, and by fighting and winning prize money in arranged bare-knuckled fights, where it's a fight until one's surrender or one's death. But Daddy is a kind-hearted person, while he is also fearful of others, as he maintains he and his family's privacy. Life turns ugly when one of the wealthy area landowners, Mr. Price, pays Daddy a visit at home to tell him he's squatting on his land. In this part of York, there are no police and no laws but what rules the locals enforce on their own which make this story dark and suspenseful. It reminded me of an old 1970s movie with Dustin Hoffman called "Straw Dogs."