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Bezig met laden... The Year Without Summerdoor Guinevere Glasfurd
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. This book shows how the eruption of Mount Tambora impacted the lives of people on the other end of the globe who had no idea what was going on. It manages to give a lively impression of life (and death) in 1816. It also shows that while climate changes affect everbody, the poor are affected much more. In 1815 the battle of Waterloo is won and in Indonesia a massive volcanic eruption occurs. For one ship's surgeon, seeing the devastation is frightening. A year later and in Vermont there is a terrible drought, crops cannot survive, animals and humans are starving. Meanwhile in The Fens revolt against enclosures is brewing and in London revolt against taxes and prices is also afoot, snow in summer means crops have failed. For painter John there is a battle between love and the artistic muse and in Switzerland Mary sees a flood of refugees as starvation bites the poor. Based on a series of true stories this book weaves the lives of six individuals into the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Tambora. Two of the narrators are wellknown, Mary Shelley discovering her muse and John Constable making a shift in his painting, but it is the four others that provide the most moving testimony. This is a great book in that it tells a very human tale which, although fictionalised is based on a worldwide tragedy. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
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LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT HISTORICAL FICTION PRIZE 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN AWARD 2020 'A STRIKINGLY SHARP AND SUBTLE WRITER' Guardian 'SUPERB...BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN...UNFORGETTABLE' FT Weekend 'SKILFUL' Sunday Times 'RICH, INTRICATE, IMPRESSIVELY REALISED' Observer 'VIVIDLY REALISED' The Times 'A VISION OF THE PAST AND A VISION OF THE FUTURE' Irish Times 'A VIVID SLICE OF HISTORICAL FICTION' Sunday Express 1815, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia Mount Tambora explodes in a cataclysmic eruption, killing thousands. Sent to investigate, ship surgeon Henry Hoggcan barely believe his eyes. Once a paradise, the island is now solid ash, the surrounding sea turned to stone. But worse is yet to come: as the ash cloud rises and covers the sun, the seasons will fail. 1816 In Switzerland, Mary Shelley finds dark inspiration. Confined inside by the unseasonable weather, thousands of famine refugees stream past her door. In Vermont, preacher Charles Whitlock begs his followers to keep faith as drought dries their wells and their livestock starve. In Suffolk, the ambitious and lovesick painter John Constable struggles to reconcile the idyllic England he paints with the misery that surrounds him. In the Fens, farm labourer Sarah Hobbs has had enough of going hungry while the farmers flaunt their wealth. And Hope Peter, returned from the Napoleonic wars, finds his family home demolished and a fence gone up in its place. He flees to London, where he falls in with a group of revolutionaries who speak of a better life, whatever the cost. As desperation sets in, Britain becomes beset by riots - rebellion is in the air. The Year Without Summer is the story of the books written, the art made; of the journeys taken, of the love longed for and the lives lost during that fateful year. Six separate lives, connected only by an event many thousands of miles away. Few had heard of Tambora - but none could escape its effects. 'VIVID, VIBRANT, HARD TO PUT DOWN' Hilary Spurling 'THOUGHT-PROVOKING, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND VERY COMPELLING' Harriet Tyce 'INGENIOUS AND ABSORBING' Kirsty Wark 'ASTONISHING, RIVETING, MASTERFUL, POETIC' Emily Rapp Black 'A WORLDWIDE CANVAS BROUGHT TO LIFE IN VIVID, HEARTBREAKING DETAIL' Marianne Kavanagh Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Glasfurd brings the aftermath of the volcano to life from the perspective of two well-known names and three brave but ordinary figures merely trying to survive during a cold summer: struggling artist John Constable, Frankenstein author Mary Godwin, farm worker Sarah Hobbs in Norfolk, a soldier returning from the Napoleonic wars and in Vermont, America, a preacher keen on establishing his name in a rural community.
I absolutely loved the individual narratives which make up this historical account of 1815 and could have read separate novels for each of the characters. Also I learned so much about Constable's art, Mary Godwin's family and the holiday to Geneva which resulted in her famous novel, and the social unrest and riots in England following the Napoleonic Wars - a dramatic period of history which readers of Jane Austen will remain blissfully unaware of!
All of the characters are either historical figures or based on real people. Sarah Hobbs, with the only first person narrative in the story, was based on a young farm labourer from Ely who was found guilty of rioting and sentenced to a year in gaol. Five men convicted alongside her were executed as a warning! Her voice is lively and likeable, written in a local, uneducated dialect, and I really felt for her impossible living conditions but also admired the fire she had to fight back. In contrast, Charles Whitlock, the preacher in Vermont, is an insidious character who professes godly motives but actually ruins everything - and everyone - he touches. He brought to mind Mr Collins from Pride and Prejudice, but written by Flannery O'Connor.
An well-researched novel with believable narratives, recommended as a personal but powerful introduction to 'the year without a summer'. ( )