THE PLOT: A BIOGRAPHY OF AN ENGLISH ACRE. (SIGNED)

BUNTING, Madeleine.

ISBN 10: 1847080855 / ISBN 13: 9781847080851

Published by Granta Books, London,, 2009

About this Item

First Edition. Hardback. Dust Jacket. 8vo. Original publishers green cloth, lettered gilt at the spine. Signed presentation from the author on the title page to Martin Woollacott (1939Ð2021) a British journalist, "with thanks for the encouragement, Madeleine." ISBN: 1847080855 Pages: 304 Fine in fine dust jacket.

Seller Inventory # C99007

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE PLOT: A BIOGRAPHY OF AN ENGLISH ACRE. (SIGNED)
• Publisher: Granta Books, London,
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1847080855
• ISBN 13: 9781847080851
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Signed: Signedes
• Seller catalogs:
  • Natural History

About this title

Synopsis

On a remote edge of the North York moors, where a grassy hillside overlooks the Vale of York, there is a secluded acre of land, edged by woods, called Scotch Corner. A mysterious war memorial chapel stands there, a simple stone building, decorated with bold carvings. Madeleine Bunting's father - an artist and visionary, but also a fiercely conservative man, with romantic, old-fashioned views about England - erected the chapel in his youth. He was a difficult, distant parent, and Bunting fled her home life in Yorkshire as a teenager. But after her father's death, Bunting wanted to understand him and his passionate, lifelong attachment to this plot of land, and she wanted to explore how we find a sense of belonging. Bunting discovered that this quiet spot has a rich history. It had been home to Neolithic forts and earthworks, farmed by the monks from nearby Byland Abbey and fought over by medieval Scots. Many have passed through the Plot. Thousands of cattle walked its drovers' road for centuries, and Wordsworth and other romantics searched for beauty and the picturesque in its views and valleys. Others have been more permanent inhabitants: the sheep that patiently crop the moorland, the grouse slaughtered there every autumn, the farmers struggling to make a living from the land. And Bunting's father, who tied his life so closely to this acre. In learning about the Plot, Bunting comes to see how 'wisdom rests in places', how important it is for us to understand the places that shape our lives, and she reaches an understanding of her father and his ideals. "The Plot" is an original and heartfelt book which deftly balances the emotional and the political, and shows what a contested, layered place we inhabit.

About the Author

Madeleine Bunting is a leading columnist for the Guardian. Born in North Yorkshire, Bunting read History at Cambridge. She joined the Guardian in 1990. She is the author of The Model Occupation: The Channel Islands under German Rule, 1940-45 and Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives (both HarperCollins). She lives in London with her husband and three children