It’s the very last day of summer, and the last stop on my literary tour of Yorkshire before the bad weather sets in – and we’ll all have an excuse to read more! (If you’d like to visit previous stops on this wide-ranging bookish tour, so far I’ve covered books set in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Bradford, Yorkshire’s Abbeys and York.)
This month we’re calling at Yorkshire’s ‘South Riding’. If you’re old enough to remember when Yorkshire was divided into Ridings – as I am – you’ll know why I’ve put the ‘South’ in inverted commas.
Yorkshire has an ancient history. The word Riding dates right back from Viking times and comes from the Anglo-Norse word ‘Thridding’ meaning ‘a third’. The Viking kingdom of Jorvik (whose capital is now called York) was divided into three parts – the North Riding, West Riding and East Riding – and hence no ‘South Riding’.
These governance divisions were kept for more than a thousand years. You can imagine how upset many of the people of Yorkshire were in 1974 when politicians in London decided to abolish the Ridings and reorganise the county.
British people like to take the mickey, and there’s a joke that you don’t need to ask a Yorkshireman if they’re from Yorkshire… they’ll always tell you! Even within Yorkshire, folk like to take the mickey of the various regions. I once worked for a boss – an ex-army captain who lived in Harrogate in ‘posh’ North Yorks – who used to call anything south of the M62 in Yorkshire ‘bandit country’. I’m here today to prove Capt. Thomas wrong!
Besides a wealth of wonderful novels, South Yorkshire has one of the most magnificent stately homes in the country. I visited Wentworth Woodhouse for the first time earlier this year and I can’t wait to go back.
This brings me to my first book set in South Yorkshire. There is no need to visit Wentworth Woodhouse to enjoy this next book (although if you get the chance, I’d urge you to visit, as it’s fabulous!). I loved this book for its history, drama and page-turning tension.
Black Diamonds, by Catherine Bailey
Although not a novel, this book reads like the most gripping fiction. It tells the story of the Fitzwilliam family, who at one time were Britain’s richest aristocrats, and who owned Wentworth Woodhouse – the finest and largest Georgian house in Britain – for generations.
Wentworth was surrounded by seventy collieries employing tens of thousands of men. Coal brought the Fitzwilliams enormous wealth. This book tells the story of how the industry also brought a dramatic decline in the family’s fortunes.
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The following novel, although titled ‘South Riding‘, is actually set in a fictionalised version of the East Riding, with Kingsport standing in for Kingston-upon-Hull, and with various other little towns and villages being fictionalised versions of places like Beverley, and Withernsea, Hornsea and Sunk Island on the Holderness coast. (I’m indebted to fellow Yorkshire author Sharon Booth for this information!)
South Riding, by Winifred Holtby
This novel was first published posthumously in 1936 and was reviewed by L.P. Hartley as ‘Amazingly rich and complex … we meet every kind of human being. Courage and vitality blow like a high wind through her story.’
Winifred Holtby’s masterpiece is a rich evocation of the lives and relationships of the characters of South Riding. Sarah Burton, the fiery young headmistressof the local girls’ school; Mrs Beddows, the district’s first alderwoman, based on Holtby’s own mother; and Robert Carne, the conservative gentleman-farmer locked in a disastrous marriage, with whom the radical Sarah Burton falls in love. Showing how public decisions can mold the individual, this story offers ‘a panoramic and unforgettable view of Yorkshire life’.
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And here are six more great stories set in South Yorkshire:
The History Boys: A Play, by Alan Bennett
An unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys in Sheffield in pursuit of sex, sport, and a place at university. A maverick English teacher at odds with the young and shrewd supply teacher. A headmaster obsessed with results; a history teacher who thinks he’s a fool.
In Alan Bennett’s classic play, staff-room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence provoke insistent questions about history and how you teach it; about education and its purpose.
The History Boys premiered at the National Theatre, London, 2004, winning Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle, Olivier and South Bank Awards. On Broadway, it received numerous awards, including six Tonys.
Firewatching, by Russ Thomas
Set in Sheffield, where a body is found bricked into a wall of the Old Vicarage. From the state of the hands, it’s clear the dead man was buried alive. When the man is connected to an old missing person’s case, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is called.
After an ‘incident’, Tyler needs this case to go well in order to prove himself and get his career back on track. But he soon discovers that he has a connection to the case that hopelessly compromises him. He makes the snap decision not to tell his superiors, certain that he is the only one that can solve the crime. Now Tyler must move carefully to find out the truth, without destroying the case or himself.
Meanwhile, someone in the city knows exactly what happened to the body. Someone who is watching Tyler closely. Someone with an unhealthy obsession with fire . . .
Dear Nobody, by Berlie Doherty
This YA novel, winner of the Carnegie Medal, is the moving story of two teenagers and an unplanned pregnancy.
This compelling story is beautifully told from two points of view, brilliantly evoking the feelings of both Helen, in a series of letters to the unborn baby, and of Chris as he reads the letters and relives the events of their relationship while Helen is in labour.
The Northern Clemency, by Philip Hensher
Beginning in 1974 and ending with the fading of Thatcher’s government in 1996, ‘The Northern Clemency’ is Philip Hensher’s epic portrait of an entire era, a novel concerned with the lives of ordinary people and history on the move.
Set in Sheffield, it charts the relationship between two families: Malcolm and Katherine Glover and their three children; and their neighbours, the Sellers family, newly arrived from London so that Bernie can pursue his job with the Electricity Board. The day the Sellers move in there is a crisis across the road: Malcolm Glover has left home, convinced his wife is having an affair. The consequences of this rupture will spread throughout the lives of both couples and their children, in particular ten-year-old Tim Glover, who never quite recovers from a moment of his mother’s public cruelty.
Don’t You Forget About Me, by Mhairi McFarlane
It began with four words. ‘I love your laugh. x’
But that was twelve years ago. It really began the day Georgina was fired from The Worst Restaurant in Sheffield (© Tripadvisor) and found The Worst Boyfriend in the World (© Georgina’s best friends) in bed with someone else.
So when her new boss, Lucas McCarthy, turns out to be the boy who wrote those words to her all that time ago, it feels like the start of something.
The only problem? He doesn’t seem to remember Georgina – at all…
The Ragged Valley, by Joanne Clague
Determined not to waste his life toiling for his cruel brother, Silas, the second son of a farmer, arrives in town to seek his fortune. Harriet has reconciled herself to a life no better than domestic service for her austere uncle. And John Gunson, Chief Engineer at the Sheffield Waterworks Company, has just completed his crowning glory – the Dale Dyke dam.
But one stormy night, the unthinkable happens. The dam bursts. A wall of water is unleashed, destroying everything in its path.
The aftershocks of the flood reach far beyond that night, with consequences that could never have been foreseen. Fatefully brought together, Silas and Harriet must now contend with their families as new love blooms. Meanwhile, Gunson faces not only an angry community but also a court of inquest looking for a scapegoat.
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I hope you’ve enjoyed my selection. As usual, if you any recommendations – or if you think I’ve left something vital off the list – please do let me know in the comments!
Helena Fairfax 
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