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Hellfire And Herring: A childhood remembered
 
 
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Hellfire And Herring: A childhood remembered (Hardcover)

by Christopher Rush (Author) "There was one week left in November when I was born, and eight hundred miles away or more, as the Spitfire flies, a Soviet-betrayed Warsaw..." (more)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Profile Books (28 Dec 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1861979177
  • ISBN-13: 978-1861979179
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 310,922 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"'A requiem which will first rend, and then refresh, even the most hurt of human hearts' The Times 'A rare insight into a man's passionate, all-consuming love for his wife, and a heart-breaking meditation on grief' Guardian 'A truly mesmerizing and beautiful book' Scotland on Sunday 'The most remarkable book I've ever read... about the thing which you hope isn't going to happen' John Bayley"


Adam Nicolson, 4 star lead review, Mail on Sunday

'a glowing and beautiful memoir... an astonishingly vivid world,
richly recalled...poetry leaks from Rush's pen at every turn'
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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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First Sentence
There was one week left in November when I was born, and eight hundred miles away or more, as the Spitfire flies, a Soviet-betrayed Warsaw was trying on for size yet another form of military subjugation, Stalin preparing to take over where Hitler had left off. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Hellfire and Herring, 27 Jun 2007
By Mr. Keith Miller (Oban) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Best book of the past year for me - rich and vivid descriptions of a fascinating childhood on the Fife coast in the 1950's. Very varied material with some quite extraordinary characters, some verging on the surreal. I expect it was like that in the closed world of fishing communities struggling to survive in the post war deprivation. I empathise with the time and the territory, having spent my own childhood on the other side of the Forth, splattering around in rock pools and possibly glowering across the firth to where the author was similarly engaged.
A very spiritual book too, with a strong perspective on the traits and idiosyncracies of a unique community from a world now submerged. Highly reccomended......kfm
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read, 20 Mar 2008
By Donaldo "Book lover" (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Hellfire And Herring: A childhood remembered (Paperback)
This is a beautifully crafted memoir of growing up in St Monan's in the post-war years, a small, insular fishing village on the East Neuk of Fife. St Monan's is not far from where I grew up when I was younger, so I had a sort of personal interest in this book. Much of the East Neuk these days is a tourist trap - gentrified with 2nd homes and arts festivals (esp Pittenweem and Crail). Fishing has almost completely disappeared from the East Neuk, with only a few boats left along the harbours.

One review of this book mentioned the almost `gothic' feel of it. And for the first few chapters, you certainly do get that. The fisher-folk were people that lived hard lives, entirely at the mercy of nature and of their stern and (mostly) Calvinist God. The first few chapters create this glorious picture of this exotic, insular little world. It throws you straight into the harsh winter of the East coast, a christening foiled by the water itself freezing over in the font, but rescued by someone taking the spray of the sea against the cliffs to be used for the baptism instead. The images the author creates in the first few chapters stay with you long after you read them.

If there is one criticism of this book, it's that the author finds it a little hard to sustain this brilliant, gripping opening. It becomes less gothic and more familiar, though never anything less than engaging.
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