Coming Back Brockens: A Year in a Mining Village

by Mark Hudson (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $3.40

  A few years ago, the author went to live in Horden, a mining village on the bleak east coast of Durham. Horden had been the biggest colliery in Britain, and among the men who had worked there were Hudson's great-grandfather and grandfather. The pit is now closed, and remains alive only in the memories of its old people. In search of his forebears, Hudson listened to the tales of how it once was, of the hardships and traditions of the miner's life, and of the struggles and triumphs of trade unionism. He also heard tales of his ancestors, although these tales flicker and fluctuate; the only certainty is the pit. In this book, Hudson portrays a world that has gone for ever, and offers an angry indictment of what has taken its place. The author won the Thomas Cook Award and the Somerset Maugham Award for Our Grandmothers' Drums .

• Used

  Hardcover
  1994

  $3.40

  A few years ago Mark Hudson went to live in Horden, a mining village on the bleak east coast of Durham. Horden had been the biggest colliery in Britain and among the men who'd worked there were Mark Hudson's great grandfathers and grandfather. The pit has now closed and Horden remains alive only in the memories of its old people. In search of his forebears Mark Hudson listens to tales of how it once was, of the hardships and traditions of the miner's life, of the struggles and triumphs of the union. And tales too of his ancestors, but these are curiously fickle: they flicker and fluctuate; the only certainty is the pit. A brilliant portrait of a world that has gone for ever, an angry indictment of what has taken its place, a search for personal meaning in the past, Coming Back Brockens is an extraordinary achievement.