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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

In Brontë Country: Howarth vs Stanage-NorthLees

20/4/2016

6 Comments

 
We British are proud of the Brontës, especially in cinematic form played out by attractive actors. But the Japanese are the real fans, apparently, making pilgrimages to the village on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales where the sisters penned their novels. One such tour is the launch point for Mick Jackson’s fourth novel for adults in which the eponymous “heroine”, after a few days drinking with her sister in London, travels north with a coachload of older women. But Yukiko is no Brontë aficionado. Instead, armed with a handful of photographs taken in the area, she considers herself a psychic detective, intent on discovering the secret of her mother’s visit ten years before, which she believes precipitated her suicide back home in the snow.
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I’ve no idea if Yuki is authentically Japanese, but I loved her quirky voice with that late-adolescent mixture of ignorance and supreme confidence in her dismissal of anything that fails to arouse her interest. With her degree in fashion and zany ideas for inventions that would surely make her fortune if only she understood the science behind them (such as an underground airport so that she, and presumably the other Japanese tourists she despises, could step off the plane straight onto an escalator leading right to the door of the Brontë parsonage) she’s marvellously impractical. Fortunately a local girl, Denny, comes to her aid and the two set off across the snow-covered moors to uncover the legacy of the photographs.

The spiritualism side got a bit weird in the second half of the novel, but you don’t have to believe in it to enjoy the story. In her search for her mother’s memory in the frozen wilds, Yuki reminds me a little of Katherine Carlyle. Thanks to Faber and Faber for my review copy.

My own introduction to the Brontës was through my mother’s evening class in English literature which led to her quoting bits of Wuthering Heights at us as she prepared for her exam. A couple of years later, I was studying the same novel at school for my own O-level but, as outlined in my post A Mind of My Own in the Other Side of the Story, it was another sister’s novel, Jane Eyre, that had the greater impact on my maturing mind.
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While Yorkshire has the biggest claim on Brontë country, there’s also a little bit further south in Derbyshire, as it is commonly believed that Charlotte Brontë used the area around Hathersage as her setting for Jane Eyre. Little did I know, when I first read the novel over forty years ago, I’d be leading a literary walk around the area in my role as a volunteer ranger with the Peak District National Park. It’s taking place this year on Sunday 3 July; if you’d like to come along you can book through the national park website. Hopefully we’ll have some sunny weather but, even if not, the walk will still go ahead: Jane Eyre might start with the sentence There was no possibility of taking a walk that day, but, unlike Charlotte and her sisters, we have the luxury of lightweight waterproof clothing and won’t let a spot of rain put us off. If you’re a walker, you might also like my post on the Peak District walk that features in my novel.
If you’re more interested in country house interiors, as I’ve mentioned before, North Lees Hall, supposedly Mr Rochester’s Thornfield, has a rare opening to the public this coming weekend in honour of the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth (tomorrow 21 April). I was roped in last week to contribute to interviews with the local press and, on a rare bright Spring day, I was lucky enough to be allocated a spot up on the battlements, although it you’ll see from this photo it meant my face was as red as my jacket. With my first ever TV interview only ten days before (this time about my own novel and not yet broadcast, though I anticipated it here), I was rather nervous and, even for a ninety-second slot for which my bit might not even be used, they managed to ask me a question to which I didn’t know the answer! But it was an enjoyable morning and fascinating to see what goes into those outside broadcasts.
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Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
6 Comments
Heather Burnside link
20/4/2016 06:12:30 pm

The Yuki Chan novel sounds interesting and different. Congratulations, Anne, on getting a TV interview for your own book. I hope it gets screened. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you - good luck. :)

Reply
Annecdotist
22/4/2016 12:30:20 pm

Thanks, Heather, I was really impressed how Liverpool has a book slot on its local TV. Other cities could do with taking a leaf out of their book (rubbish pun intended). And we filmed in the library which is a fabulous building. I’m sure I’ll be posting more on this when the interview is screened.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
22/4/2016 04:22:35 am

Hi Anne,
A timely review to fit in with Charlotte Bronte's birthday. Your walk I'm sure will be interesting and fun. You have a lot to offer, and as you say, you won't have to be concerned about the weather with lightweight waterproofing. It will be summer though! I hope you have nice weather. I was interested to hear of your mother studying literature. You obviously had encouragement from her.
I'm excited about your tv interview and looking forward to seeing the whole 90 seconds! If the photo is anything to go by, it will be great.

Reply
Annecdotist
22/4/2016 12:28:01 pm

Thanks, Norah, I’d been saving this one for the walk but then the open day cropped up. Sorry you’ve missed the interview: it was on the local news earlier this week and I just saw it by chance as we thought it would be yesterday (but it seems that was the Queen’s Birthday too, so I guess she has precedence) and I don’t think it’s on the iPlayer. But it was quite a good little piece (not me, I sounded really nervous, which I was, although they’d also put in another bit of me reading from the book, and my reading voice is loads better) and seemed longer than ninety seconds.
As for the walk, don’t forget this is England! The temperature can vary between 10 and 30 degrees even in July. Last year, it was pleasant for walking until the last bit when we had heavy rain. I must remember to get my bits and pieces laminated for this year.
Interesting how you read the bit about my mother. Although you could class it as studying literature, she was really just catching up with the age 15/16 exams she hadn’t been able to do at school when she’d instead gone to secretarial college at 14. Though she seemed to enjoy it, she didn’t take it any further.

Reply
Jeanne Lombardo link
22/4/2016 06:24:30 pm

How I wish I could come to England for your literary walk in Derbyshire. Like a lot of "Yanks," I cut my literary teeth on the English classics, rereading the Bronte sisters over and over (and Thomas Hardy, Dickens, Anthony Trollope, etc.) I think I am a tad partial now to Jane Eyre myself. As for Yuki Chan, well Japan is another deep love of mine. I lived there for four years before moving to London where I stayed for three years. She sounds like a wonderfully quirky character, and what a plot. (Now I am wondering if you ever read the GEn Xer Banana (yes, Banana) Yoshimoto? Loved her in the 90s). Finally, how exciting to be interviewed on your work. Congratulations. I must say the picture you posted here was great, the sun-kissed complexion and all :-)

Reply
Annecdotist
26/4/2016 10:05:01 am

Thanks, Jeanne. If you’ve lived in both Japan and England you’re ideally placed for checking out the authenticity of Yuki’s voice. I’m pleased to say that the weekend opening went well with over 1000 visitors across the two days – but there would have been room for you! Though it was a hell of a lot colder than when we did the filming. I’ve read very little Japanese fiction so thanks for your recommendation (interestingly, I’ve come across Banana as an African name – Malawi, I think).

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