South Riding by Winifred Holtby

Sarah Burton returns to South Riding as a fiery young headmistress, determined to make a difference for the girls in her care - like bright Lydia Holly, who dreams of a scholarship to escape her family's grinding poverty.

But she finds a community teetering on the brink of change, torn between established traditions and new idealism. She must work with - and against - her new neighbours to fight her cause: Jo Astell, a socialist fighting poverty and his own tuberculosis; Mrs Beddows, the first woman Alderman of the district; the obsequious businessman Snaith; and brooding Robert Carne, a conservative landowner tormented by his disastrous marriage, to whom Sarah finds herself unwillingly drawn. Winifred Holtby's greatest work is a panoramic evocation of a Yorkshire community between the wars: a rich and moving tapestry of lives, loves, sorrows and triumphs.

This beautiful 90th anniversary edition contains a preface by Shirley Williams, an introduction by Marion Shaw and an epitaph by Vera Brittain.

Series:Virago Modern Classics
Format:Paperback / softback 544 pages
Publisher:Little, Brown Book Group
Imprint:Virago Press Ltd
ISBN:9780860689690
Published:26 Nov 2010
Classifications:Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Classic fiction (pre c 1945)
Weight:368g