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My aim in writing “Cheshire Cheese and Camembert” was to take some of the younger characters who appeared in “Blessèd are the Meek and “Twenty-six Nil” and place them in a more modern setting, ie. the early years of the 20th century. The turbulence of the period between 1913 and 1919 made for a vibrant background: the suffragette movement, the Easter Rising in Ireland, the Russian Revolution, not to mention the Great War.

Inevitably the war had the greatest impact on families like that of my narrator, Charlie Knott, but I did not want to turn my novel into a war story. Reports of events in northern France come only from newspaper reports or more graphically from letters from Charlie’s son Alfred.

As Charlie has left Hyde for work by the docks at the eastern end of the Manchester Ship Canal, the town of Hyde is less of a feature than in the previous books. However, perhaps I should have made at least a brief mention of the sacrifice Hydonian men and women made at that time. 710 men of Hyde who gave their lives are commemorated at the cenotaph on Werneth Low, a windblown hill overlooking the town and the great pattern of distant boroughs. It is one of my favourite places in the world.

Writer's pictureBrent
Oct 30, 20161 min read

Edward Fleet Memorial

When Dave Wiseman, an enthusiastic reader of Shillingstone Station, emailed me a few months ago to suggest that a memorial should be set in place (as a marketing exercise) in the station garden as per the novel, I originally thought it was a nice idea that would be laughed at by the trustees. How wrong I was. Everybody I spoke to thought it would be perfectly feasible and, yes, would be a great promotional tool and not just for the novel.

Yesterday I saw the results of the work, mainly of Patrick Law and Beryl Beecham and the gardeners, I believe: a perfect little memorial stone to Edward L Fleet, with engraved brass plaque facing the afternoon sun just like I described it! The surrounding rosebushes are due to be planted imminently.

I am still a little surprised (and I imagine Dave Wiseman is too) and sincerely grateful to those who helped to turn a fiction into a reality, notably Derek Lester-Jones, Alan Wiseman (no relation) and Patrick.

Photos taken on 29th October below:


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Seven hundred and ten

My aim in writing “Cheshire Cheese and Camembert” was to take some of the younger characters who appeared in “Blessèd are the Meek and...

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Cheshire Cheese and Camembert is the third and final part of what, somewhat inadvertently, has become a Hydonian trilogy. 

Loosely following on from Blessèd are the Meek and Twenty-six Nil, the story takes place during the early years of the twentieth century and much of the action has moved from Hyde to Salford, and principally around the docks at the eastern end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Walter Rowbotham's best man, Charlie Knott, now a middle-aged man with a steady job, tells the story about how he, his family and his friends come to terms with the modern world and the challenges it poses, not least the conflict that grips Europe in 1914.

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There is much more about the new novel on the Books page...

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