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South Riding (Virago modern classics) (Paperback)

by Winifred Holtby (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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Customers buy this book with Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925 (Virago classic non-fiction) by Shirley Williams

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Product details

  • Paperback: 502 pages
  • Publisher: Virago Press Ltd; New edition edition (8 Aug 1996)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0860689697
  • ISBN-13: 978-0860689690
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 34,543 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'A triumph of personality, a testament of its author's undaunted philosophy' VERA BRITTAIN


Product Description

Winifred Holtby's greatest novel is a rich evocation of the lives and relationships of the characters of South Riding. Sarah Burton, the fiery young headmistressof the local girls' school; Mrs Beddows, the district's first alderwoman - based on Holtby's own mother; and Robert Carne, the conservative gentleman-farmer locked in a disastrous marriage - with whom the radical Sarah Burton falls in love. Showing how public decisions can mould the individual, SOUTH RIDING offers a panoramic and unforgettable view of Yorkshire life.
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly a classic of 20th century literature!, 13 May 2000
By A Customer
One of the best books I have ever read, and undoubtedly a classic of 20th century literature, this book provides as authentic a portrait of 1930's England as has yet been put to paper. With its huge cast of characters, the narrative encompasses all aspects of human life, and Winifred Holtby achieves a depth of characterisation which would be the envy of most living authors. Buy it and enjoy!
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Humanity in Nineteen Thirties Provincial England., 16 Jan 2007
By steve b (Dudley England) - See all my reviews
One of the best portrails of English provincial life ever written, South Riding is on a par with the best of Arnold Bennett in it's depiction of 'big fish in little ponds.' The story revolves about a headmistress who arrives to take over a girls high school in a depressed northern town in the nineteen thirties. Other figures include a number of local councillors, a talented but poor girl with a host of brothers and sisters to look after and the local squire and his highly strung daughter.

Winifred Holtby was a strong socialist and she could have made stock villans from the local bigwigs and heros out of the working class. What she does do however is create real people with good and bad sides. The local squire is shown to real prtoblems of his own, a mad wife and daughter and no money, while some of the working class fiqures are shown to be shiftless. In its humanity this book is on a par with its near contempory 'Grapes of Wraith.' It is also a very good read with a host of figures remarkable in their realism.

Winifred Holtby died young and this is her only major work. Indeed she knew she was dying as she wrote it. Read it and it will not let you down.

The nineteen seventies TV series is a good adoptation also worth a look.

If you want to known what it was like to live in nineteen thirties provincial England this book will tell you. One of the best books I have ever read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Quite simply a masterpiece, 7 April 2009
South Riding is subtitled An English Landscape, and it is just that, a landscape made up of people.

Sarah Burton is a dedicated and idealistic teacher who returns to her home county to become headmistress of a girls' high school.

Emma Beddows is the first woman alderman in the district and her work is the focus of her life now that her children are grown.

The dialogues and the developing relationship between those two dedicated but different women are quite wonderful, and there is much more besides.

Robert Carne is a county councilor and a struggling gentleman farmer. His wife is in an asylum and he worries that their daughter Midge will inherit her mental illness.

Lydia Holly loves learning and Sarah believes she has more potential than any other child she has taught but, when her mother dies after one pregnancy too many, her father pulls her out of school to look after her younger siblings.

And so many more - councilors, teachers, pupils, farm workers, townsfolk, all of the people that make up a community and all with their own story.

Their paths, of course, cross and Winifred Holtby tells all of their stories, mixing them and balancing them perfectly.

The characterization is absolutely wonderful, right across the social spectrum.

And there are so many wonderful words and ideas, so many wonderful moments. I really can't praise this book enough.

South Riding is a quite wonderful picture of provincial England in the 1930s.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars South Riding
This is a gem of a book. I had not heard of Holtby until recently and found her own life really interesting. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Sue Nic

4.0 out of 5 stars Nina
It was amazing how up to date this book was even though it was written in the 193o's. Some of the opinions and attitudes were similar to those held today. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Nina

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