or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
236 used & new from £0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Maid of Buttermere
 
See larger image 

See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

The Maid of Buttermere (Paperback)

by Lord Melvyn Bragg (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £6.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £1.01 (13%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, November 10? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
17 new from £0.56 218 used from £0.01 1 collectible from £2.00

Frequently Bought Together

The Maid of Buttermere + Remember Me... + A Time to Dance
Price For All Three: £17.76

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: The Maid of Buttermere by Lord Melvyn Bragg

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Remember Me... by Lord Melvyn Bragg

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • A Time to Dance by Lord Melvyn Bragg

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

A Time to Dance

A Time to Dance

by Lord Melvyn Bragg
4.3 out of 5 stars (7)  £5.49
Remember Me...

Remember Me...

by Lord Melvyn Bragg
3.5 out of 5 stars (17)  £5.29
A Son of War

A Son of War

by Lord Melvyn Bragg
3.5 out of 5 stars (8)  £6.97
Crossing the Lines

Crossing the Lines

by Lord Melvyn Bragg
3.0 out of 5 stars (5)  £6.99
Credo

Credo

by Melvyn Bragg
4.0 out of 5 stars (11) 
› Explore similar items

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: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 148,541 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

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

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

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.

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
See all 10 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Maid of Buttermere
90% buy the item featured on this page:
The Maid of Buttermere 4.7 out of 5 stars (7)
£6.98
Credo
4% buy
Credo 4.0 out of 5 stars (11)
The Soldier's Return (Sceptre 21's)
3% buy
The Soldier's Return (Sceptre 21's)
£5.49
Remember Me...
2% buy
Remember Me... 3.5 out of 5 stars (17)
£5.29
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5 of 5 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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5 of 6 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.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Maid of Buttermere
A must read book.
Lord Bragg weaves a sensative and absorbing novel arround the events of the late 18th century concerning a publicans daughter and shepherdess of such... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dabbler

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 4 months 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 5 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 on 23 Jul 2007 by aapjebaapje

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject








i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.