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The Maid of Buttermere
 
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The Maid of Buttermere (Paperback)

by Lord Melvyn Bragg (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Sceptre; 2 edition (1 Jan 1993)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340423730
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340423738
  • Product Dimensions: 18.4 x 12.8 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 208,631 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #16 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > B > Bragg, Melvyn

Product Description

Product Description
The story of an imposter and bigamist, who travels to the North where he marries "the maid of Buttermere", a young woman whose natural beauty inspired the dreams and confirmed the theories of a=early 19th century writers.

About the Author
Melvyn Bragg's first novel, For Want of a Nail, was published in 1965 and since then his novels have included The Hired Man, for which he won the Time/Life Silver Pen Award, Without a City Wall, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Credo, The Maid of Buttermere and The Soldier's Return, which was published to huge critical acclaim in 1999 and won the WHSmith Literary Award. He has also written several works of non-fiction including Speak for England, an oral history of the twentieth century, Rich, a biography of Richard Burton and On Giants' Shoulders, a history of science based on his BBC radio series. He was born in 1939 and educated at Wigton's Nelson Tomlinson Shool and at Oxford where he read history. He is controller of Arts at LWT and President of the National Campaign for the Arts, and in 1998 he was made a life peer. He lives in London and Cumbria. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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The Maid of Buttermere
96% buy the item featured on this page:
The Maid of Buttermere 4.8 out of 5 stars (6)
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A beguiling story based in a fascinating location., 31 Dec 2001
I loved reading The Maid of Buttermere. Coming from the area in which the story is set made the detailed descriptions more vivid.
The story is an adventure with an added romance, which is slow to unfold. Mr Bragg cleverly introduces characters into the melting pot, whose importance in the tale only becomes apparent near the conclusion.
A perfect draw for tourists to the beautiful tranquility of Buttermere, where the Fish Hotel which centres in the story still exists.
The book also includes action set in the Morecambe Bay Sands, Keswick, Carlisle and Gretna Green, and jumps to more southern cities too.
It was my introduction to Bragg, and led me to read more of his work.
An admirable Cumbrian certainly, and a memorable book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest books ever written, 24 April 2007
By David A. Tootill "Buttermere Fan" (Cumbria, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I came across the name of John Hatfield whilst doing some historical research online. Having discovered that he was executed in Carisle. The whole scenario was set in the Lake District where I am fortunate enough to live. All of the places & most of the people did exist (impossible to check everyone.) William Wordsworth featured her in his poem 'The Prelude.' He came with Samuel Taylor Coleridge to the Fish (her father's pub) to gaze at her beauty, as many men did. It was Coleridge who suspected that Hatfield was an imposter. Indeed he was, going under the name of Colonel Augustus Hope. Coleridge did in fact start the exposure, which led to the manhunt; and eventual execution of Hatfield.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Unlike his character, Bragg is no imposter, 17 Sep 2006
By W. Pearce (Morecambe) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I love the way this book has come about. The author, Melvyn Bragg, has obviously done some historical research, and come across a very juicey tidbit, a scandal, covered in the newspapers of the time, involving a very flambuoyant character who is not what he claims to be, and a woman famous throughout the region for her good looks, known as the Beauty of Buttermere. He must have rubbed his hands in glee when he came across it! He has then taken what he has found, and spun it out into a really interesting, and at times gripping, novel.

Before reading this book, the impression I had of the author from his appearances on the television was of quite a shallow and superficial character. However, Bragg has obviously put a lot of himself into the book, and it is evident that he is far from being just a showman.

I would imagine the character John Hatfield is based to quite some extent on the author himself who, as i understand it, comes from humble origins but has, of course, risen to considerable heights. Maybe at times he has felt like an imposter in the same way that Hatfield plays at being a gentleman.

The character Hatfield, whilst unfortunate because of his pretence and show, is also very likeable because he knows his weaknesses, and underneath it all wants to do what is right. His motives are good, even if the way he goes about things eg by assuming a title which isn't his, is not.

Bragg has an impressive knowledge of social history, which he paints lightly onto the canvas, not letting it become a distraction in the way that some writers do. The reader doesn't continually get the impression he is trying to show off his knowledge. Instead, you genuinely feel you are experiencing the events in Cumbria and north Lancashire at the turn of the 19th century.

The book is of particular interest if you happen to live in these parts, as most of the action takes places in the area between Lancaster and Carlisle. I love the opening scene in which the protagonist rehearses his lines in Morecambe Bay. Living only two minutes' walk from the Bay myself I could picture this scene very vividly.

This is not quite a classic, but it is one of the best books by a contemporary author I have come across.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A haunting story of love and betrayal.
I found this a really rich, beguiling and beautifully written novel. The essential story, of John Hatfield's web of deceit and his relationship with Mary Robinson, would be a... Read more
Published 14 days ago by Script Angel

5.0 out of 5 stars Maid of Buttermere Melvyn Bragg
This book is excellent.Set in the Lakedistrict in the 18th century based on a true story...compulsive reading captures the atmosphere of the lakes at that time... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. M. C. Hodgkinson

5.0 out of 5 stars Not diminished by the passage of time...
This book was first published in 1987 but, unlike many novels written 20 years ago, it is not diminished in the slightest by the passage of time. Read more
Published 24 months ago by aapjebaapje

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