Welcome to Litsy!

Beautifully written, atmospheric read that paints a vivid picture of a small village and what happens when modernity and progress come calling. It‘s a story about passion, forbidden love, family, and consequences. The pace is slow, the writing occasionally dense but I found myself drawn into the character‘s lives and the anxiety of knowing that everything is about to change and none of it is in your control. A wonderful book.

Today‘s portable reading…

#OutAndAbout #Commuting #ReadingOnTheTrain

Hall writes with an old soul. Her language is visceral and elemental. You can smell the lichen, feel the minerals in the water and can touch the bark ridges rough under your hands. She‘s taken a real event ( the flooding of a small northern village to create a reservoir to supply water to the city) and woven a human story around the event. How she connects her characters to the land is deeply moving.

Taking a short road trip here next week - so thought I‘d read a fiction account of the true story of the valley being dammed and flooded, engulfing the village and displacing farmers who had farmed here for generations. #naturalitsy

And the postman has just delivered this treat from @rockpools
Thank you so much! I've only read her short stories before (which I loved) and am hoping to go up to Cumbria this weekend so this is perfect!!! 😘😘😘

Set in 1936 as Mardale, a village in the lake district, is flooded to make the reservoir that will serve Manchester.This is a wonderful piece of writing that describes the beauty of a landscape with stunning prose, draws the characters of this farming community with skill, while at it's heart a love story which left me feeling bereft at the end having to leave a drama drawn so vividly. This will be 5* + one of my fave bks this yr.