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Book of the Week

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Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

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Richard Stacey

Jill Waters

Book of the Week: Richard Benson - The Valley: Episode 2

The Valley

Episode 2

Richard Benson - The Valley

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Richard Benson - The Valley, Episode 2

On a summer evening in 1929, Winnie goes to her first dance at the Miners' Welfare Hall.

On a summer evening in 1929, Winnie goes to her first dance at the Miners' Welfare Hall. Family saga read by Richard Stacey.

Abridged from Richard Benson's epic family saga The Valley, the focus of this Book of the Week is on the story of the author's grandmother - Winnie Hollingworth (1909 - 2002) - and her life in the mining villages of the Dearne Valley in South Yorkshire.

This remarkable social history draws on years of research, interviews and anecdote which chart generations of carousing and banter, tears and fights all set against the background of a close-knit community where almost everybody worked either in the mines or the mills.

Richard Benson's first book, THE FARM which related the story of his own parents and brother and their livelihood in the Yorkshire Wolds was described as ' an extraordinary mixture of hardness and tenderness, wit and slog.. wonderful ' Ronald Blythe author of Akenfield. It went on to be a no.1 bestseller .

This new book is a powerful and moving achievement - it follows Winnie from her first romantic encounter: 'her heart beating hard and fast down in her whalebone and elastic' to her final years sitting in the lounge of a long rubber-tiled room with high-backed chairs around the walls.. ' where 'the residents either roost mutely or chat while their eyes search the room for a younger person who might play the piano for them.'


Ep.2. On a summer evening in 1929 Winnie goes to her first dance at the Miners' Welfare Hall.


Read by Richard Stacey
Producer: Jill Waters
Abridged and directed by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

Book of the Week: Richard Benson - The Valley

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Story of the author's grandmother and her life in the South Yorkshire

Story of the author's grandmother, Winnie Hollingworth, and her life in the mining villages of the Dearne Valley in South Yorkshire

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