Description
For the last ten years Lorna had lived with her father in a small cottage out on the marshes. Now Henry Banningham had died, and Lorna was alone. Would she find companionship? Might she find love?
Meanwhile, the life of this special place – its birds, insects and flowers, its reedbeds, its flowing waters – ministered to her in her solitude. The village church, the pub, sailing on the Norfolk Broads, local people and incomers, provide the wider setting for a story whose focus always returns to this unique environment at the heart of the Broads.
An affinity with an exceptional place…..
The story is set in and around the Broads villages of Ludham and Potter Heigham, with particular focus on the natural environment of Horse Fen, the stretch of marshland lying along the River Thurne between the two villages.
Read the first chapter – January 1988
Find out more about the book and the author at http://jonathanfalkner.org.uk/
Jonathan Falkner was born in Hampshire, but grew up at Seascale on the Cumbrian coast. He was ordained in 1979 and has served in various parts of Cumbria, also for 9 years in the 1990s in the very rural South Elmham and Ilketshall parishes near Bungay in north Suffolk. This enabled Jonathan and his family to sail on the Broads, also to visit many of the nature reserves of Norfolk and Suffolk. In particular, he paid regular visits to the Ludham and Potter Heigham Marshes National Nature Reserve, keeping notes of his observations through the seasons, and these observations provide much of the background to the novel. He is now retired and once again living in Seascale.
Steve –
The plot of this story could be described as a gentle romance as two young people meet, develop friendship and finally love, but the real protagonist is Horse Fen, the stretch of land between Ludham and Potter Heigham along the Thurne river of the Norfolk Broads. The author draws on his own detailed observations to provide accurate (as far as I can judge) descriptions of the locations and the natural environment found therein. I know this area a little from walks, but the author’s knowledge goes to another level, describing the changes through the seasons with a passion that comes out clearly in the book. However, this isn’t a dry recital of nature notes, it is a story that holds one’s attention through to the end.
I would recommend this to any lovers of this wonderful part of the Broads.
Crispin Bickle (verified owner) –
How lovely to read a book that has no murders or unpleasant happenings. Knowing the area well I felt as if I was part of the book. I think it would not be so interesting if you did not know the area around Potter Heigham/Womack To me it felt that I knew every blade of grass they walked on I hope the author is planning a sequel