Another month and a rush of new books!
The Faces of the Fiend of Breydon

I received a sample of this several months ago and I have to confess I was rather put off by the title and the tagline – A Victorian Psychological Thriller. Not really my thing, I thought. But it reached the top of my reading pile so I thought I’d better try a couple of chapters. Good! Well written, plenty of historical detail and social insight. I kept reading and really enjoyed it to the end. I know, don’t judge a book by its cover, but we all do it.
The Faces of the Fiend of Breydon is set in and around Great Yarmouth and Breydon Water (or the ancient estuary of Gariensis as the author likes to call it) in the late 1800s. Young John Sayer is brought up in a god fearing household, but becomes exposed to various traumatic events – the Yarmouth bridge disaster taking the life of his best friend, the death of his parents – which haunt him. After the loss of his parents he goes to live with his well travelled uncle, who has more liberal views and introduces him to the art of wildfowling on Breydon and boating on the Broads.
The story follows Sayer’s life as he leaves Yarmouth as a seaman to travel the world, finally returning to Breydon where his ghosts catch up with him. This is not a ghost story in the traditional sense, more an exploration of the psychology of superstition and trauma in a historical setting. A good read which I thoroughly recommend, especially if you have an interest in the history of the area. Now listed with an RRP of £9.99 (originally £12).
Where Are The Fellows Who Cut the Hay?
In 1956, George Ewart Evans, a Welsh schoolteacher living in Suffolk wrote Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay, a collection of oral histories from older farmworkers, documenting a rural way of life that was fast disappearing with development of mechanisation in agriculture. The young Robert Ashton, living in Leiston, became inspired by the book and went on to a career in agriculture.
Now retired, Ashton has written this new book exploring how rural life and agriculture has changed in the last 70 years, and what the options are for a more sustainable future. He has spoken to many farmers in East Anglia, and he relates these conversations to build the picture of rural life in the area in the 21st century.
A fascinating book, well written and nicely presented in hardback with a dustjacket and cover design that harks back to Evans’ original edition.
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain
I, Julian
Two books about Norfolk’s medieval religious visionaries, Margery Kempe of King’s Lynn and Julian of Norwich, now both out in paperback.
Despite the rather long title, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain had rave reviews when it came out in hardback. Now in paperback, it is a fictionalised account of the life of Margery Kempe of King’s Lynn and her meeting with Julian of Norwich in the year 1413.
Frank Cottrell-Boyce wrote in the Guardian: “Born in 1373, one-time brewer Margery Kempe had visions of Christ which set her off on a series of rambunctious, incident-packed pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Santiago de Compostela and Prussia. She dressed in white, like a virgin, despite having at least 14 children. She was tried for heresy several times but always managed to successfully rebut the charges. In her debut novel Victoria MacKenzie has distilled this chaotic, episodic rampage of a life into a beautifully lucid account of a spiritual adventure. The Margery who emerges is boastful, vulnerable, courageous, confused, mouthy, libidinous, attentive and impossible not to love.”
I, Julian focuses on the life of Julian of Norwich and tells her story as a fictional autobiography, choosing to live her life as an anchoress, bricked up in a small room on the side of a church.
Different Drums: One Family, Two Wars
Different Drums delves into the Manthorpe family’s pacifist journey from religious non-conformity to humanitarianism. Set in Norwich, the story begins in February 1917 when Walter Manthorpe, a staunch Quaker, sought exemption from military service as a conscientious objector. His steadfast beliefs landed him in the military barracks at Mousehold, followed by a harrowing period of solitary confinement in Wormwood Scrubs while London was being bombed. Sentenced to five years in prison, Walter took the option of Alternativist service. This was supposedly an opportunity to contribute to society while withholding support for the war but turned out to be gruelling and pointless hard labour in penal work camps.
When he returned to Norwich, he ran one of the first health food stores in England. By 1923 he had been received back into civic life and elected chairman of the Norwich District Grocers’ Association. Walter had two sons, Walter Jr and Jack, and as fate would have it, they both came of age as the second World War gained pace. The bonds of blood and ideology were tested as the two brothers faced choices that would define their futures.
Wetland Diaries
A couple of years ago, naturalist Ajay Tegala wrote of his time as a ranger at Blakeney in The Unique Life of a Ranger. He subsequently took up the ranger post at the National Trust’s reserve at Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, and his new book, Wetland Diaries, published 5th May, is a seasonal account of life on the fen, saving a once widespread landscape and revealing the spectrum of emotions experienced in the process. Ajay shares the spirit and atmosphere of the Fens, offering an insight into the privileges and pressures of managing semi-wild animals in one of the country’s first wetland restoration projects, creating precious breathing space for nature and people alike.
Author | Charles Reader |
Format: | Paperback |
Dimensions: | 19.8cm x 13.2cm |
Pages: | 376 |
Publisher: | Paul Dickson |
ISBN: | 9781739715434 |
Year: | 2023 |
RRP: | £9.99 |
How traditions from the past can shape our future
Author | Robert Ashton |
Format: | Hardback/Dustjacket |
Dimensions: | 22.4cm x 14.5cm |
Pages: | 216 |
Publisher: | Unbound |
ISBN: | 9781800182981 |
Year: | 2024 |
RRP: | £16.99 |
Author | Victoria MacKenzie |
Format: | Paperback |
Dimensions: | 19.7cm x 12.8cm |
Pages: | 163 |
Publisher: | Bloomsbury |
ISBN: | 9781526647931 |
Year: | 2024 |
RRP: | £8.99 |
Author | Claire Gilbert |
Format: | Paperback |
Dimensions: | 19.6cm x 12.8cm |
Pages: | 330 |
Publisher: | Hodder & Stoughton |
ISBN: | 9781399807548 |
Year: | 2024 |
RRP: | £9.99 |
One Family, Two Wars
Author | Victoria Manthorpe |
Format: | Paperback |
Dimensions: | 23.2cm x 15.5cm |
Pages: | |
Publisher: | Poppyland |
ISBN: | 9781869831349 |
Year: | 2024 |
RRP: | £14.95 |
Ranger Life and Rewilding on Wicken Fen
Author | Ajay Tegala |
Format: | Paperback |
Dimensions: | 21.6cm x 13.8cm |
Pages: | 256 |
Publisher: | History Press |
ISBN: | 9781803993485 |
Year: | 2024 |
RRP: | £17.99 |