Sunday WW1 Remembered...

I enjoy reading books set during WW1 which cover as wide a range as possible. 



In July I will share five of my favourites, some non fiction and some fiction

Where Poppies Blow

John Lewis -Stempel

W&N

2016

WHERE POPPIES BLOW is the story of the British soldiers of the Great War and their relationship with the animals and plants around them. This relationship was of profound importance, because it goes a long way to explaining why they fought, and how they found the will to go on. And in that relationship is found some of the highest, noblest aspirations of humanity in times of war.

My thoughts...

It's not all about blood and bullets and this glorious book looks at the continuance and constancy of allowing, in the midst of carnage, the therapeutic benefits of nature. And, of how, even in the midst of horror, the birds still sang, the blossom bloomed as beautiful as ever, and the tiny creatures of nature still went about their daily business.

The joy of nature brought comfort and in some cases, healing, when I am sure it seemed like the entire world had been plunged into chaos. The author very cleverly divides the content of the book into manageable chapters, each with a  foot firmly placed in what was happening in the war, whilst at the same time allowing a glimpse into a very different world.

The book begins as it should, with a beautiful poem, August, 1914 by John Masefield, who juxtaposes the beauty of the English countryside against what was happening just a few hundred miles away in the trenches of the Western Front. And just as poetry can evoke such strong emotions, so can this recounted story of a group of soldiers, from the Royal Warwickshire, who tenderly buried a dead pigeon they found in a communication trench, or the deep and abiding comradeship between an officer and his horse, or of how medics treated both wounded soldiers and animals, even to making artificial wooden legs for dogs who were thus injured in battle.

One of my favourite chapters, entitled The Bloom of Life explains how soldiers cultivated small trench gardens and regularly sent home for seeds and how grassy mounds would be transformed with nasturtiums, daffodils and hyacinths, and how billets would bloom with tiger lilies, auriculas and roses. And of course, who can forget the image of the poppy fields of Flanders.

Poppy Field Detail
Photograph by kind permission
Digital Images

So many beautifully recounted stories make up the whole of this fascinating book which is a joy to read from start to finish.

About the Author

John Lewis-Stempel was born in Herefordshire and is an author and farmer, who writes on a range of subjects including military history and the natural world. His best-selling books include Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field (2014), winner of the Thwaites Wainwright Prize for Natural Writing. He is a columnist for Country Life and in 2016 was shortlisted for Magazine Columnist of the Year.

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Blog Tour ~ Foxes Unearthed by Lucy Jones

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be starting off the Foxes Unearthed Blog Tour

I'm thrilled to welcome the author, Lucy Jones to the blog 
to share some of her favourite Foxy Facts with us

Elliot and Thompson
2017

Foxy words

The fox weaves into our language in myriad ways. Most fox-related words relate to the animal’s supposed artfulness or craftiness. ‘Foxly’ was used to mean cunning as long ago as the twelfth century. However, there are more than a handful of neutral fox words that are devoid of the predatory meaning. My favourite is “foxes brewings”, which means ‘a mist which rolls among the trees on the escarpment of the Downs in unsettled weather.’

Fox-tossing

The most shocking thing I discovered while researching Foxes Unearthed was the sport of fox-tossing. It sounds fictional but in the 17th and 18th centuries European aristocratic couples would gather in courtyards to play what must be one of the most barbaric sports in history. The fox was tossed into the air using two sticks and a piece of cloth and the highest flung animal would win the contest. If that’s not bad enough, on nights of masked balls, the fox would also be dressed up in costume. Unsurprisingly, it was usually fatal.

Eyes

Foxes are supreme examples of evolution. They are brilliant predators, hence how widespread Vulpes vulpes is across the globe. In particular, their eyesight is incredible. You know that glow that foxes, and other mammals, have in their eyes when they’re caught in headlights? That’s because of the tapetum lucidum, a layer of light-sensitive cells that allows animals that have it to see in the dark. Handy for catching mice in the woods at night.

Playing dead

The fox playing dead is an old yarn. It seems unlikely, but in January 2016, the ruse was caught on film. Siberian hunters came across what appeared to be a dead Arctic fox, trapped in a snare. The video shows the fox being manhandled as they remove the snare. It looks utterly dead. But when the hunters place the body in a box, the fox bursts out and scrambles across the snow for its life. An incredible sight (and it doesn’t look faked)

Nursemaid

Before I wrote Foxes Unearthed, much of what I thought about the social groupings and relationships of foxes was learned from the 1990s television adaptation of Colin Dann’s The Animals Of Farthing Wood. I assumed foxes lived in pairs with their cubs. In fact, the more we learn about foxes, the more complex their societies seems to be. For example, a group of foxes will often include a barren vixen who helps the matriarch vixen look after the cubs. She may be a sister or a cousin but her role is crucial in helping bringing up the wee foxes until they’re old enough to disperse.

©Lucy Jones

 Read my review of Foxes Unearthed here

More about the author

Lucy Jones writes mainly about culture, nature, music, science, wildlife and the environment. She was Deputy Editor at NME.com and previously worked at The Daily Telegraph. She is the recipient of the Society of Authors' Roger Deakin Award for Foxes Unearthed.

You can find Lucy on her Website

Follow on Twitter @lucyjones @wildlifedaily

Blog Tour runs 14th - 21st March

 follow on Twitter @lucyjones #FoxesUnearthed @eandtbooks

*Foxes Unearthed is out in paperback on the 16th March and published by Elliot & Thompson*

Thanks to the publishers I have a fabulous copy of Foxes Unearthed to giveaway to one lucky UK only winner

a Rafflecopter giveaway




Good Luck



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Blog Tour ~ The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host the first day of the  Blog Tour 

for 

A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess

Sidgwick & Jackson
Now out in paperback

What's it all about ...

In A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess the reader joins Amanda as she describes the age-old cycles of a farming year and the constant challenges the family faces: from being cut off in winter to tending their flock on some of the country’s highest, wildest moors - land so inaccessible that in places it can only be reached on foot.

Writing with her trademark warmth and humour, Amanda tells us how her nine-year-old son Miles got his first flock, Reuben took up the flugelhorn and she herself gave birth to a new baby girl. She shares the touching stories of an epic two-day journey taken by a ewe determined to find her lamb and of Queenie, an ageing and neglected horse who comes to live at the farm. Meanwhile, her husband Clive is almost arrested on a midnight stakeout to catch a sheep-worrying dog and becomes the object of affection for a randy young bull.

Amanda’s stories abound with humour and warmth that bring the countryside alive.

My thoughts about the book..

There's something refreshingly original about reading Amanda's account of life at Ravenseat. The image of this remote stone built farm, brooding in weather that sometimes leaves the farm isolated for days at a time, and perched high in the Yorkshire Dales, could be conjured right out of a Bronte novel. The Owen family live and work in glorious isolation, often at the mercy of whatever the weather or life throws at them, but always with a sense of realism and a huge dollop of good old fashioned Yorkshire pragmatism.

Photo Credit : Ian Forsyth

The book starts in January when the weather in Swaledale can be brutal but with remarkable resilience, the children are up and about early, and even before most school children have dragged themselves out of bed, the Owen children have tended to their chores, feeding chickens, collecting eggs and mucking out horses. In Amanda’s world no child is too young or too small to play a part in farm life.

With nine children to look after, Amanda and her husband Clive are constantly on the go, literally from dawn until dusk with little respite from either, the weather, or of the difficulties and dangers of managing a remote hill farm, and yet, throughout the book Amanda talks about her life with such warmth and humour that you can’t help but be envious of a life which at first appears relentlessly difficult.

With about a thousand sheep to look after, this huge flock features heavily in the year’s calendar, after all that’s where the family’s living comes from, but I never expected the sheep to have such distinct personalities or of the family’s emotional attachment to them. Amanda recounts her daily dealings with her flock with great affection, some of her stories made me laugh out loud, particularly the sheep who always seemed to know when a publicity photographer was around, or the way she has of warming up vulnerable baby lambs in the oven.

Photo Credit: Ian Forsyth

It’s not all about sheep, although they do feature large, but it’s also about how the changing seasons affects the family, of the adventures and mishaps of daily life, and of the determination needed to keep the farm productive and sustainable.

I raced through the book, always finding something of interest, a quip that made me smile, a story that tugged away at my heartstrings or an event which brings Ravenseat to life in Amanda’s indomitable style. It must be said that by the end of the book I was in awe of this family who live, work and play with such a unique perspective , and with such utter joy of living life to the full.

Best read with...One of Amanda's home baked scones and a large mug of tea..

About the Author

Photo Credit : Ian Forsyth

Amanda Owen has been seen by millions on ITV’s The Dales and in Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild and is currently appearing on ITV1’s Countrywise. Voted Yorkshirewoman of the Year by the Dalesman magazine, she is also the author of the top-ten bestseller The Yorkshire Shepherdess. Amanda lives and works at Ravenseat, a hill farm of 2,000 acres, which she shares with 1000 sheep, nine children, four dogs, and one husband. Not to mention chickens, pigs, cows, horses and an uncontrollable goat and a vole who has taken up residence in the living room. And she couldn’t be happier.

As well as looking after her animals and children, Amanda sells cream teas to walkers who stop at her farm on the Coast to Coast walk. Amanda’s farm Ravenseat is halfway along the 192 mile journey, which 16,000 people walk every year bringing new faces and stories to the farm each day.

Amanda also runs James Herriot tours for fans of the books, who visit her farm to see a way of life that hasn’t changed for decades. Amanda has also set up a traditional shepherds hut on the farm for couples wanting to experience a real country get away. After an encounter during a storm, Amanda now also counts former BBC Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury as one of her good friends.

Amanda originally grew up in Huddersfield but was inspired by the James Herriot books to leave her town life behind and head to the countryside. After learning her craft as a freelance shepherdess, cow milker and alpaca shearer, she eventually settled down as a farmer's wife with her own flock of sheep at Ravenseat. Happily married with nine children, she wouldn't change a thing about her hectic but rewarding life.

Follow on Twitter @AmandaOwen8 or visit the Ravenseat website 

My thanks to Olivia at Midas PR for sending me a review copy of 

A Year in the Life of a Yorkshire Shepherdess

and for the invitation to be part of this blog tour.

Follow the blog tour on Twitter #yorkshireshepherdess

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Review ~ Winter edited by Melissa Harrison

Elliot & Thompson
2016

The cool blue of the cover conjures ice and frost and a feeling of winter pervades in the choice of prose and poetry contained within its pages.

There can be nothing more comforting on a cold wintry day than snuggling up with a cup of steaming hot chocolate and a really good book. On a recent, and rather grey, afternoon that's just what I did, and I very quickly found myself immersed in this lovely book. 

There are beautiful reflective pieces, my particular favourite comes from November (Sonnet XVI) by Hartley Coleridge, (1833) who was the son of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge..

 " ..In the chill sunbeam of the faint brief day

The dusky waters shudder as they shine,

The russet leaves obstruct the straggling way

of oozy brooks, which no deep banks define..."

Poets and authors, old and new, with works spanning over seven hundred years allows this Winter anthology to graciously unfold in sharply observed pieces which nestle comfortably alongside details of natural phenomena, as in this snippet from Thomas Furly Forsters, Encyclopedia of Natural Phenomena (1827) 

.." If Candlemas Day be fair and bright

Winter will have another flight..."

I had to look up Candlemas Day, it's on February 2nd

There are many more fascinating snippets which allow a glimpse into our British countryside during this stark season, and yet the content of the book is never austere, it is alive and vibrant, both in the imagery it evokes and in the feelings it arouses. Without doubt Winter, that most enigmatic of seasons, comes gloriously alive in this lovely anthology.

The editor, Melissa Harrison has done a commendable job of keeping this quartet of anthologies completely relevant, with each seasonal interpretation allowing a heartening and thoughtful meditation into the true meaning of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Published in support of The Wildlife Trusts who look after some 2,300 special places in the UK

Amazon UK

More about the editor, Melissa Harrison can be found on her website by clicking here

   

My thanks to Alison at Elliot & Thompson for my review copy of  Winter.

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Review ~ Candle Stick Press Poetry Pamphlets..

Today I'm talking about


Lovely little, poetry pamphlets from  Candlestick Press

I've fallen in love with these rather special poetry pamphlets which you can send instead of a card. They are beautifully presented and a real joy to read.

Here are my thoughts about the three latest ones :

Ten Poems about Friendship

Selected and Introduced by Lorraine Mariner

Literature, both in prose and poetry has extolled the virtue and the value of true friendship. In this wonderfully presented pamphlet the idea of friendship is demonstrated in all of its many guises. From Stevie Smith's The Pleasures of Friendship through to the Inventory by Lorraine Mariner which offers a wry look at the benefit of Facebook friendship.

However, my absolute favourite is the very last of the ten poems and is entitled quite simply Friendship by Elizabeth Jennings, it is beautifully expressed and quite special.

A perfect friendship gift.

The Wood in Winter

By John Lewis-Stempel 

The beautiful whites and russets of the front cover of this pamphlet conjure perfectly a winter woodland. You feel that you could reach right out and touch the rich red pelt of the shadowy fox and catch a secretive glimpse of the shy grey hare as it peeps just inches away from the running deer.

Inside is a story which warms the heart and soul. Beautifully written, this is one man's journey though Pool Wood, the woodland of his childhood, and the thoughts and feelings expressed are perfectly in keeping with the idea of how much nature means to us. There's a nod to Shakespeare's King Lear in the haunting "Still Through the hawthorn blows the cold wind", and a touch of superstition and folk lore, which combined forms an imagery which is quite stunning. Interspersed as it is, with glorious illustrations from the natural world this is, without doubt, one of the nicest pamphlets I have ever seen.

The Twelve Poems of Christmas (Volume 8)

Edited by Carol Ann Duffy

This glorious collection of twelve poems associated with Christmas allows a glimpse into the many facets of Christmas we so often take for granted.With a mixture of poetry, both old and new the festive season comes alive in the imagination. Two of my favourite poets have been included, John Keats and Robert Graves, and their work sits very comfortably alongside Stevie Smith and other more modern poets, who are perhaps less well known, but whose work is no less impressive.

And for the purists there is also a complete rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, well, it's always useful to know just how many pipers were piping.

Candlestick Press is a small independent publisher who produce a really impressive array of poetry pamphlets which suit any occasion. I'm always impressed by the quality of these booklets which are really lovely to look at and a joy to read. The quality of the paper on which they are printed, the fact that they also include an envelope, a letter seal and a beautifully coordinated book mark, make them something quite, quite special.

You can find out more about these titles by clicking here

My thanks to Candlestick Press for the opportunity to read these beautifully presented pamphlets and also to Lauraine Jordan at Trumpet Public Relations for organising my review copies.

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Review ~ Foxes Unearthed by Lucy Jones

Elliot & Thompson
19 May 2016

I fell in love with this book from the get go just because of its cover, not that I'm biased about orange whiskery creatures, you understand.

But putting aside the glory of its cover, this book really brings home our love and loathing of this most enigmatic of predators. For some, it's a creature of magic and mystery, whilst for others its a source of constant misery as hen coops up and down the land are targeted on an almost nightly basis. And then of course, there's the altogether more contentious issue of fox hunting which I'm not going to dwell on, except to say that the book covers this hot topic with great insight.

I loved the readability of the book, combining fact with fiction, folklore and magic with cold hard facts, but always, what shines through is the author's commitment to telling it like it is, with no superfluous waffle , not overly fanciful , just a really interesting look at the role foxes have in our rural and urban environments. The detail is good, the author's opinions are clearly expressed and throughout the book are intelligent observations from specialist contributors which help to give the book an overall balanced view.

There's something rather special about this beautiful wild creature and if you've been privileged to see one really close then you get the idea of both their vulnerability and their utter strength. Some years ago, I was lucky to be able to see foxes regularly at play in the early morning and it was perfectly magical to watch the rough and tumble of fox cubs with an early sun glinting on their russet coats, which were a darker red than I expected. But to watch this fascinating wild creature relaxed and playful, delighting in the sights and scents of an early Summer morning was just stunning and it is something that I will never forget.

I enjoy reading books which teach me something new and in Foxes Unearthed, I learned an abundance of facts about Vulpes Vulpes which I didn't know, and that's where the delight of this book lies, in learning something new and precious about one of our very special wild creatures.

Best Read with...Cheese sandwiches wrapped in grease-proof and a pair of sharp binoculars...

About the author

Lucy Jones writes mainly about culture, nature, music, science, wildlife and the environment. She was Deputy Editor at NME.com and previously worked at The Daily Telegraph. She is the recipient of the Society of Authors' Roger Deakin Award for Foxes Unearthed.

Visit Lucy on her Website

Follow on Twitter @lucyjones @wildlifedaily

My thanks to Alison at Elliot & Thompson for my review copy of this fascinating book.

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Review ~ Summer : Edited by Melissa Harrison

Happy Publication Day

Elliot & Thompson
May 19th

I'm really pleased to support this lovely anthology which is based around the idea of summer and which supports, at the same time, the work of The Wildlife Trusts.

I know we constantly criticise the state of our summers, it's usually that we don't have the right sort of weather, that we have too much rain, or not enough, or that the sun is too hot or in too short supply but what's obvious when you really start to look at summer is that, regardless of our unpredictable weather, it really is a season to be cherished.

In this anthology, editor, Melissa Harrison has put together an assortment of reminisces, short stories, observations and poems which capture the very essence of summer and which collectively show just how precious is the season. Some of the authors are well known to us, like Charles Dickens, Laurie Lee and George Elliott, there’s even a snippet from my favourite Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, other authors may be less well known, but together they all combine to form a well written collection, which is a real delight to read. There’s even a charming piece by Alan Wright,2016 about summer at one of my favourite places to visit, Brockholes in Lancashire.

It's a lovely jewel of a book that will sit quite comfortably on a book shelf and which can be opened at whim and quite simply ,wherever you land in the text, there will be something of interest and it won’t disappoint.

If you have ever walked through a wheat field in summer, well, this snippet, written by Nicola Chester, 2016, caught my eye “…and the wheat field crackles and pops like a bowl of cereal as it ripens in the sun...” ..

Beautifully observed and with such a delicious combination of short stories, this is a book to treasure and at the same time support a really good cause.

Summer is the second of four titles, known collectively as The Seasons to be released at quarterly intervals throughout the year, in February, May, August and November

Amazon UK

 

Best Read with..... a glass of sparkling Prosecco and a bowl of sun warmed strawberries, freshly picked...

My thanks to Alison Menzies at Elliot & Thompson for my copy of this book

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