The Land of Green Ginger

by Winifred Holtby

Joanna Burton was born in South Africa but sent by her missionary father to be raised in Yorkshire. There she dreams of the far-off lands she will visit and adventures to come. At 18, tall and flaxen-haired, she meets Teddy Leigh, a young man on his way to the trenches of World War I. Joanna has been in love before—with Sir Walter Raleigh, with the Scarlet Pimpernel, with Coriolanus—but this is different. Teddy tells her he's been given the world to wear as a golden ball. Joanna believes him and marries him, but the fabled shores recede into the distance when, after the war, Teddy returns in ill health. The magic land turns out to be the harsh reality of motherhood and life on a Yorkshire farm, yet still she dares to dream.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, British Literature, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Novels, Family

311 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

Winifred Holtby was a committed socialist and feminist who wrote the classic South Riding as a warm yet sharp social critique of the well-to-do farming community she was born into.

She was a good friend of Vera Brittain, possibly portraying her as Delia in The Crowded Street.

She died at the age of 37.

Reviews

[JimZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars — A somewhat disappointing read. This was a Virago Modern Classics re-issue, and I know I can’t be entirely wrong in my assessment when the person who wrote the Introduction, Margaret Waley, although appreciating the book, said “This is Winifred’s first mature novel, by no means flawless—particularly in the central; section which loses its way...”. 🤨 🤔 😐

What’s also weird, and this is not Winifred Holtby’s fault, is that the description of the book on the Virago Modern Classics back cover really misses the mark in my humble opinion. This is a rather dark and depressing book, and although the main protagonist can be cheery and humorous in her thoughts and what she says at times, it is said that this is Holtby’s “...most delightful novel”. I don’t know how a dark read can be delightful....

Holtby’s classic is ‘South Riding’ and I read that first and was blown away by it. One of those books where if I could give it 10 stars I would. I then read her first novel, Anderby Wold, and that was OK (3 stars) and then read ‘Crowded Street’ and liked that a whole lot (4.5 stars). At least for me, so far this was her weakest.

Setting is England in North Riding circa post World War I. Joanna marries the first man who proposes to her, and he is not forthcoming to her in that he has had tuberculosis. I guess he may have thought he was cured but he wasn’t and got discharged from the army because of it. He had wanted to be a curate but instead he became a simple farmer. They had two girls. They had extreme troubles making ends meet. They take in a Hungarian lodger who is working for a logging company (I think), and at least in the short term this proves helpful in that he helps with the chores and gives them money for room and board. But and here is where the plot gets weird—he tries to woo Joanna although he does not like her because she feels she pales in comparison to his fiancé back in Hungary....and this makes no sense whatsoever. Her husband suspects they are carrying on an affair and the people in the village believe so too, and I think I’ll leave it at that. Actually, one more thing: essentially as the husband is dying, he forces himself on Joanna (I would say it comes pretty close to rape), and the next day dies. She is pregnant by him with their third child and the villagers suspect the father is the Hungarian. How in the world could such a novel be characterized as a delight is beyond me.

Note:
• In the first review below, it appears that Mr. Mistry was struck by the one of the same passages I was struck by: “It was not the truth but people’s idea of the truth which made it possible for one to live to society.” (...in the context of villagers believing that Joanna’s baby was going to be born out of wedlock when the truth was that her husband was the father)

Reviews:
• Very thorough and excellent review to be read after you read the book... https://rohanmaitzen.com/2012/10/30/w...
• https://www.culturalwednesday.co.uk/b...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
• https://shereadsnovels.com/2011/11/03...

[Ellen Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Winifred Holtby is trying to reach me from beyond the grave. I think she is determined that I should get nothing done and weep under my bedcovers twenty four hours a day whilst I pour over her novels in despairing delight.

I first discovered Holtby just last year, becoming utterly consumed by her opus, South Riding. When I found her other, scarcely known novels, I was in heaven and promptly added the lot to my amazon wish list. The Land of Green Ginger is the third I’ve read by her, and while I couldn’t say I enjoyed it as much as South Riding, which I fell head over heels in love with, I also became superfluously attached to her principal characters.

Joanna Burton, who would be the heroine if Holtby believed in heroines, was born in the Transvaal but was sent to Yorkshire after her mother’s death to be raised by her aunts. As a child she dreams of faraway places, exploring and Sir Walter Raleigh. She plans to travel, until she meets Teddy Leigh, a young man on his way to the trenches. They fall in love and marry in a whirlwind romance quite unparalleled by her loves for Raleigh, the Scarlet Pimpernel and Coriolanus.

After the war however, Joanna’s dreams of far of lands are replaced with the reality of a failing Yorkshire farm, an ailing husband and the everyday troubles of motherhood.

This is a book about men and their dreams and women and their realities. One of Holtby’s most hated and lamented evils was a waste of a woman’s potential; the spark of hope extinguished by the smothering hand of a husband and his demands upon his wife. Holtby doesn’t entirely condemn marriage, but she doesn’t, like many women of her time, advocate it as a woman’s true and only vocation.

“She was bound captive by her heart, and by her instinct and her conscience. If she fled to the ends of the earth, she could not escape her husband’s need of her. If she entered an enchanted city, and its gates closed fast behind her, she could not shut her children from her mind.”

The Land of Green Ginger was far more tragic than the others I have read by Holtby – barely one good thing seemed to happen to Joanna, hardening her once joyful personality into something that can face and withstand the daily she agonies she must endure. Only the arrival of a strange and mysterious man from the foreign lands she once dreamt of, and dreams of still, adds a flash of colour to her otherwise grey life.

This was a truly moving novel, strangely enchanting and unexpectedly transfixing, for all its slow moving plot and small reaching scope. But that’s what I love about Holtby – I love the way she moves through a place paints an exquisite portrait of every inhabitant, until the reader could be a resident themselves. I love her cast of little characters, her different voices and her spellbinding sub plots. Small characters sometimes tell a story which merits a novel of their own – something I suppose she tried to capture in South Riding, which I would recommend to anyone with to eyes and a heart that they may read it and feel it.

The tragedy of this novel, though moving, could get too much at times in the novel as it is compounded by the beautiful, beautiful way that Holtby writes. It’s often her words that make tears prick at the eyes, not the events in the novel themselves. She’s just…magical.

I could talk all day about Winifred Holtby, I really could. But I might spoil her books by over analysis.

Just read them.

****

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't heard of this classic before I picked it up at a second hand store. The book felt very dusty and triggered my allergies a bit. but worth the read. I got angry for the characters at the mean gossip and how she was treated.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Winifred Holtby's writing, and I love the covers of the new Virago editions of her work so much that I pounced on a bargain copy of The Land of Green Ginger, even though I already owned the original green VMC edition.

But my feelings about this book were a little mixed - much more positive than negative, but definitely mixed.

I really loved the heroine, and she carried me through the story.

Joanna was born in South Africa, the daughter of Edith, who had dreamed of romance and adventure, and who had married a missionary. But when her mother died she was sent home, to be raised in Yorkshire, by her three spinster aunts. They cared for her, they did their very best for her, but they didn't understand the romance, the spirit of adventure, and the sheer joie de vivre that made their niece so very special.

Her friends shared her dreams, and their futures seemed so very full of promise.

But Joanna's dreams of romance derailed her. She met a young man - Teddy - the man of her dreams, who had as much romance in his soul as her. They were quick to marry, before he had to had to go away to war. He survived, he came home again: but the war killed the romance his soul.

Teddy was consumptive - he hadn't told his wife that - and the war destroyed his health too. he needed to live in the country, in the fresh air, and so the young couple took up farming.

It was a hard life, it wasn't a life that suited them, and they had a terrible run of bad luck. Joanna struggled with practical difficulties, social expectations, financial difficulties, and of course all of that took its toll on the couple's marriage. Taking in a dispossessed Hungarian as a paying guest seemed to be a wonderful idea, but Joanna's head was still full of romance and dreams, and she didn't see what her neighbours saw. A woman with a sick husband moving in another man ...

Winifred Holtby brought the world that Joanna lived in to life wonderfully well. I saw that Joanna and Teddy were isolated, caught between the gentry and the working classes, and seen as outsiders, newcomers by their neighbours. I saw how small-minded villagers could be, and I saw how Joanna's high principles were so dreadfully misunderstood.

I admired Joanna's spirit, her willingness to do everything she could for her family. I understood her frustration with her husband, with their situation. And I loved that she held on to her hope for the future. But the best thing of all was that she was a real, fallible, three-dimensional human being, so very vividly painted.

I also appreciated that Winifred Holtby said so much about so many big things - the consequences of war, the problems of society and the class system, the problems facing women, wives and mothers - through this story. And that she said them with such passion.

I was less taken with the men in Joanna's life - both husband and paying guest were completely wrapped up in their own problems. I understood, but it disappointed me, and I think it unbalanced the story.

That lack of balance was a problem. Sometimes I saw the shifts between storytelling, character development and points being made, and that made the book feel rather unpolished. It was heartfelt, it was heart-rending, but I couldn't help feeling that it might have been more. That was maddening when so much was done so well.

But I could never give up on Joanna, and I was so pleased that her ending had roots way back in the story; and that it wasn't really an ending at all, but a suggestion of future possibilities.

It left me wondering if Winifred Holtby had plans for the Burton clan - Joanna in this book and Sarah in 'South Riding' shared a surname - and what more stories of Burton women she might have written, if only she had not died so very young.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Winifred Holtby book I’ve read, and I’m still deciding, quite frankly, what to think.

Teddy Leigh, losing his mother and in turn inheriting her debilitating illness of consumption, dreams of a comfortable, fulfilling life. “When should he say, ‘’And Thou, O Lord, art my comfort?” Nobody was now his comfort, neither the form master who had praised his translation of the Eclogues that afternoon, nor the slatternly housekeeper who made him toast for tea and worried kindly about his cough, nor, certainly, his father, drowning sorrow in a stream of compound interest...

At a recruiting meeting in the autumn term of 1914, he had found the peace of mind for which he had prayed so long. Here was the perfectly clear and simple issue. Here was the sacrifice no longer chosen with hesitation, but demanded... He had set about, carefully, cautiously, knowing the difficulties of his past record (of illness), to enter the army.”

Little did Teddy Leigh know that his troubles were just beginning.

“And he had been cheated. Here, as ever, fate had robbed him of satisfaction. There had been no splendid sacrifice, no simple and sufficing act of courage. He had hoped for an honorable return, or for a poppy-covered grave, a simple cross, and his name living for ever more. He found himself imprisoned in a military sanatorium.”

If the military and serving in the war were not enough to give Teddy a sense of satisfaction, neither did his marriage to Joanna. Joanna had dreams of her own; dreams of travel, of finding her ‘land of green ginger’. Instead she finds herself bound in marriage to an invalid returned from the war, a self-absorbed war veteran whose dreams of honor have turned to dust and who must for health reasons, turn to farming and fresh air rather than the scholarly, academic life as a vicar he yearns for.

The farm itself is not only hard unending slogging with debts mounting yearly, but when foreigners move into the area, Joanna’s trials increase. Never truly accepted by the villagers, and already looked upon with suspicion, her innocent friendship with the hired man (who happens to be Hungarian), is turned into scandal. Even the local vicar Mr. Boyse, seemingly sympathetic to the Leighs, now decides he must ‘do something’.

“He knew now that he had been right in his judgment of her as a trifle odd. It was not merely because she wore green stockings, and said smart, uncomfortable things, and brought up her children badly, and proved herself to be no housekeeper; but because of that dangerous levity of manner, that impression which she created of temporary and incomplete adjustment to circumstance, as though she had never managed to settle down in life, as though her business of being a wife and mother were somehow not quite real to her. Almost it seemed as though she were playing at being herself, and not quite serious.”

Joanna is nothing if not gallant. Persevering, always hoping that things will get better for the farm, for her marriage, for Teddy, for her children, she is an admirable character and convincingly portrays the term, ‘never give up’.

“…lying on the sands or bathing in the sharp delicious water, Joanna had planned her future life. No more dreaming over inaccessible countries. Here was her country. She would learn the arts which should subdue the stubborn earth. She would rear stock and sell milk and butter, and her eggs should be the talk of the countryside.

One day, perhaps, when she was a wealthy farmer, and the children had left school, they would sell the tumble-down old place and wave farewell to the dark circle of heather, and set off on their travels…”

If you are looking for a light, happy-go-lucky pleasant read, you won't find it here. Holtby’s writing (in this novel, at least), realistically portrays the bleak monotony of unremitting labor for little return, the exhaustion of debilitating illness and their stressful effects on marriage and home life. Although at times the reader is uplifted by Joanna's courage, her admirable traits are balanced with hardship and unending disappointments. This novel, although ending with optimism, was for me a sad commentary on small-town prejudices, precipitate choice, and the futility of naïve expectation. If the author's purpose in writing "The Land of Green Ginger" was to portray the sad effects of war, poverty and bigotry upon society, she has succeeded. 3.5 stars

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanna Burton was born in South Africa, though following her mother’s death she is sent to England, Yorkshire to be raised by a couple of spinster aunts. Here, Joanna lives very much in her head – dreaming of far of places, and the adventures she would have if she were to visit them. One day just before Christmas when Joanna is eight, she walks through the streets of Kingsport with her aunts looking for Commercial Lane; they come upon The Land of Green Ginger, a dark, narrow little street, one turn before the one they seek. Joanna is captivated by the name.

“To be offered such gifts of fortune, to seek Commercial Lane and to find – the day before Christmas Eve and by lamplight too – The Land of Green Ginger, dark, narrow, mysterious road to Heaven, to Fairy Land, to anywhere, anywhere, even to South Africa, which was the goal of all men’s longing, the place where Father lived in a rondavel, the place…
Her aunts were moving away. Relentlessly, majestically, with skirts well lifted from the muddy road, and firm boots laced against the slithery grease of the pavement, they moved forward.”

At school she meets two girls of a likeminded adventurous spirit, Agnes and Rachel. Together they dream of the places they will go, the things they will see. However life seldom goes exactly as we think it will, and while the suffragette cause turns Rachel’s head – Joanna has her eighteen year old head turned by a handsome young man who tells her he has been given the world to wear as a golden ball. Teddy Leigh plays right into Joanna’s romantic imagination. The First World War has started however, and despite Teddy’s medical history of TB he is passed fit- and heads off to the trenches. During the years of WW1 Joanna becomes a mother to Patricia and Pamela and despite the realities of motherhood during wartime, still Joanna dreams.

Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanna is a dreamer but her positive outlook gives her strength to continue with her hard life and find hope and enjoyment. Will be looking out for more Winifred Holtby.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange enchanting read from the author of "West Riding". This is the story of Joanna the daughter of a missionary who orphaned returns to England from South Africa and meets and marries the consumptive Teddy who was invalided out of the First World War. Together they have two children and attempt a precarious and pecunious existence in a small farm in Yorkshire. Neither is well equipped for farm life. Teddy's health is fragile and Joanna though living a vivid inner imaginary life struggles with the demands of motherhood and lack of means. Into the harsh mundanity of farm life comes an exotic bunch of farm workers who bring life colour and romance with them from overseas but clash with the deeply parochial lifestyles and belief systems. Joanna herself viewed as an exotic other struggles to find a lifestyle for herself and it is only when tragedy intrudes that her path to the future becomes clear

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

“To be offered such gifts of fortune, to seek Commercial Lane and to find - the day before Christmas Eve and by lamplight too - The Land of Green Ginger, a dark, narrow, mysterious road to Heaven, to Fairy Land to anywhere, anywhere…” p.9

This book started with such a magical feel, a young child with so much imagination who loves the Scarlet Pimpernel, Sir Walter Raleigh I could hardly wait to dive in and the first part of the book sustained this feeling. But sadly the body or bulk of the book is so sad, disease and poverty and unkindness, always hard to read but more so now. I actually stopped 2/3s of the way through for a 3-book hiatus, but returned for the last few chapters which felt promising again and I am glad I did.

[Mary Durrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written.
The story of Joanna married to a consumptive and living the harsh reality of life on a farm in Yorkshire with a young family.
She dreams of seeing the world.
I loved it!

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanna Burton is an unusual girl, her mind filled with fantasy and the possibility of an adventurous life, wanting to travel the world and see exciting places. Born in South Africa, she is sent by her missionary father in the early 1900s to school in Yorkshire, the home of two aunts. As school is finishing for her, and she is planning her departure, she falls in love with Teddy, a seemingly similarly peculiar young man, about to set off on his own adventure in the war. On his return, Joanna finds herself married, living on a farm, and about to become a mother. Nothing in her life is as she had hoped, but can she make it better than it would seem?

Winifred Holtby wrote wonderful female characters, often with ambition and desires for improving their situations, but often thwarted by circumstances. 'The Land Of Green Ginger' gives us one of her most mesmerising heroines, one who no matter how different her life appears to be from her expectations, never gives up on her dreams.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ooh, this one is bleak. I wish I remembered more about Holtby's life so I could know what was going on at the time she wrote this, but I have to imagine that a lot of the descriptions of chronic and terminal illness must have come from personal experience. This is a book that could become bitter and cynical, but somehow never does.

[Debbie Cole-Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give this a three and a half star rating. My 4 stars are for very good, 3 are for so so, and this one, I would give a 3 and a half. Interesting, amusing, sometimes weird and sometimes funny.

[Bernadette Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, can I say that it didn't take me that long to read this story. I picked it up but had to put it to one side while other books took priority.

This is the first book that I have read by this Author and it definitely won't be the last as I've already got South Riding waiting to be read on my bookshelf somewhere. I enjoyed the writing style and found it to be a good mix of narrative and descrptive passages.

I chose this as my First World War read. The story relates the life of Joanna Burton, who travelled to Yorkshire to be brought up by her Aunts, following her early childhood in the Transvaal and the death of her Mother and Teddy Leigh, who she meets as he's leaving for the trenches of World War I. Joanna is a dreamer, dreaming of life in faraway lands but fate has other plans for her, she dreams of her heros Sir Walter Raleigh and others. Teddy Leigh knocks her off her feet and a whirlwind romance ensues followed by marriage.

Life for Joanna will never be the same as Teddy returns from the War, he is not the man he was when he left as he returns a broken man damaged by his experiences and the War. Winifred Holtby conveys the feelings and emotions that this traumatised man is going through and the repercussions on those around that he loves.

It must have been so hard on everyone concerned but will be no different than it is nowadays for the men, women and their families following tours of duty that the Forces do. PTSD is not a new phenomenom at all.

If you have never read any of Winifred Holtby's writing before, please put that right and pick up one of her books and this is as good a place to start as any.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this as much as South Riding but it was an interesting story. Many think the author is writing about the expectations on women when they marry, and it is in part this. But I think it is more about how difficult it is to live and be accepted in this world if one is different to the 'norm'of the community one lives in. If one thinks, acts, believes in a way that others cannot understand or see as 'normal', the way people should think, act, believe to be a good person, then one is misunderstood, ostracized and falsely accused. Such it is and has always been. Humanity is uncomfortable with others that live in any way different to their own and fear what they don't understand or can control/predict. This will eventually lead to growing resentment and the one that is different is seen as out side the laws (an outlaw) and is no longer protected by those laws that dictate decent and kind behaviour.

[Frances Brody]

In 1926 Winifred Holtby visited South Africa where she lectured on behalf of the League of Nations. She developed a passionate interest in the country, its people and politics. The heroine of this novel is Joanna, daughter of a missionary whose mother died shortly after giving birth to her. Joanna is sent back to Hull to be cared for by her aunts; the story is set in Hull and in Wensleydale - areas Holtby knew and loved.

Joanna is a wonderful character whose vivid imagination sees her through the most difficult times. The Land of Green Ginger is the name of a street in Hull, a street along which Joanna longs to travel.

Her early work may not rank with South Riding, but I love Winifred Holtby's writing.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

I was in the perfect mood/mindset to read this charming book. My choice of the word charming might be misleading as all is not well with Joanna and Teddy. Teddy is consumptive and Joanna finds herself the target of a scandal. Although the novel is riddled with hardship, I was immersed in the world of the English countryside and found myself quite comfortable there.

While this book is a comfortable read, it is in no way fluffy. Holtby is an intelligent author who uses fascinating vocabulary. Her style is effortless and enjoyable. I read this in two sittings, I didn't want to leave It's environ, in fact, I liked this so very much that I've already ordered two more of her books.

[John Scothern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each time I read a book by this author I wonder what I will find and am never disappointed because it never elicits what my experience predicts.
The plot twists and turns, the characters are complex and yet somehow real. The families,relations, events all torment, delight and challenge. Sometimes she throws in human observations and insights that cause me to reflect that , 'Oh! so it's not just me...'
There was a magical intellect at work here and I shall be very sad when I've read all her books! Anderby Wold will probably be next.:)

[Iva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winifred Holtby was at Oxford with Dorothy Sayers. But Holtby is obviously not as well known. Her strength is the characters--a portrait of a WWl veteran, injured and barely functional, is paired with a wife who is not prepared for caring for him, a family and a farm. Holtby gives an action filled plot with twists and turns. Holtby is one of the "Undervalued British Women Writers-1930-1960" group and I am glad there are many more to discover.

[Linden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of a woman who has always wanted to see the world, but is married to a consumptive and must work their farm.

[Paultaylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading now; a visceral evocation of the effect the war, disability and the misunderstanding that can arise between two people.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Anyone who might feel trapped in life should read this for a good old fashioned dose of hope.

[ClareT · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first time I have read anything by Winifred Holtby and I am not sure what to think. The book is still with me which is probably a good sign, but I am not sure I would recommend it to anyone either?
This is the story of Joanna, brought up by aunts in England, following the death of her mother in South Africa as a result of her birth. Always happy, and always dreaming of travel Joanna marries Teddy on the eve of war and later realises how little she knows about him. Two children follow, and, following a discharge from the army due to ill health, Teddy being consumptive (which he didn't mention) they move to a farm in Yorkshire, for his health.
There most of the work falls to Joanna, with the help of some Finns and a Hungarian, brought in to do some forestry by the local landowner.
What follows is a tale of jealousy and victimhood, charged by a religious fervour, on behalf of Teddy, suspicion on behalf of the locals, and an escape for Joanna only in her head.
It is a well written novel, but difficult to describe, as a lot of the characters sometimes feel a bit exaggerated, but then they probably did and still do exist in life.

[Amy Ryalls · Rating 4 out of 5]

literally so depressing for the middle but all redeems itself by the end. I loved remembering tiny parts of the beginning and then them being mentioned - like heading down green ginger road for teddy's funeral procession. Worth reading to feel the vitality of Joanna after if you can endure the depression of Teddy during (though I do feel really bad for him and think this whole situation wouldve been a lot nicer today)

[Ape · Rating 5 out of 5]

A woman's work is never done. The Land of Green Ginger - in the story it's a street name in the fictional town of Kingsport - basically Hull, where indeed in real life there is a street called The Land of Green Ginger. In this tale it's also the day dream fantasy land Joanna retreats in to, to keep her mind fresh, her positivity going and her spark and lust for life alive. Because the period of life this book accounts is far from easy or joyful.

This book was published in 1927. And it just breaks my heart how much of this feels like a mirror to today, or at the very least the last few years. Human beings - there is no helping us! There's a gang of forest workers brought over from Finland, Poland etc, along with their Hungarian translator (a multi-lingual master due to the necessity of the woes he had lived through over the last ten or so years) by a very rich land owner, to set up his new forest. This goes down so well with the locals that in the end the forest gang's camp is burned to the ground. Never mind what these people had gone through, or how kind they were (think of how they helped out at Joanna's farm). There's the familiar attitude to poor people (obviously must be their own fault), single mothers (must be bad women, just trying to get money out of people, the state etc), attitudes to women as well - no contraception or abortions, for why should a woman have control over her own body?!?! In fact why should a woman matter at all? She is there to serve her husband and children and if anything goes wrong it is ALL her fault. The farm is failing - well, Joanna wasn't a suitable wife to take on to a farm (and my god that woman tries); the children have been sent away so they don't catch TB from the father - well, Joanna's a terrible mother; the husband's unwell, makes a pratt of himself getting drunk - who could blame him with a wife like that?!? The gossips and the bitter minded mentality of the community is soul destroying. But as Joanna says towards the end of the book, it's not the truth that matters but what people see as the truth. She's marked as a bad and immoral woman, even though she never did anything wrong.

She marries young, nineteen I think it was, with her head full of fairyland and adventure. Her husband is a consumptive, although neglects to mention this until he comes back from the first world war, his lungs crippled. Good country air is what is needed so they have a couple of kids and move to a farm in the Yorkshire Dales. Teddy, the husband, deterioates during the book, so Joanna essentially runs the farm on her own, raises the kids on her own, nurses the husband on her own, worries about their debts on her own... yeah, you get the picture. And yet she remains so upbeat and kind throughout it all, giving people the benefit of the doubt, empathising with them, which is more than anyone seems to be able to do for her. But she's just a woman, not really a person... ugh! Even her own husband becomes bitter and resentful of her health as his own health falls apart.

It's a wonderful book, a clever commentary on society and I just loved Joanna and how despite everything, they never manage to break her spirit.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third Winifred Holtby novel I've read now and I love the way she captures so accurately the atmosphere and mood of rural Yorkshire in the early part of the twentieth century. Joanna Burton is a delightful heroine, although somewhat naive. She leaves her native South Africa as a very young child after her mother dies and she ends up being cared for by aunts. Soon after leaving school to work in a nursing home, she meets and marries Teddy who is a consumptive. Joanna sacrifices a lot for Teddy and their two children, moving to a remote farm where life is hard and money in short supply. Joanna dreams of The Land Of Green Ginger, a life of travel and visiting exotic places. Her fantasies seem impossible to realise as she fights for the survival of the farm, her marriage and her husband. A threat to her relationship with Teddy arrives in the form of a Hungarian transient worker, Paul Szermai and rumours about his closeness to Joanna soon abound. Winifred Holtby gets to the heart of what it's like to be a woman, making sacrifices and compromises, but never quite giving up her dreams.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looooooved this book. Completely unexpected as I bought this pack of books thinking this 'The Land of Green Ginger' was the Noel Langley version. I loved Joanna, the naive-but-hard-working main character who kept imagining even when faced with the drudgery of life on a farm and a poorly, ill-tempered, irrational husband. I loved the description of life in a village, where what people think is true is more important than the truth. I understood the descriptions of the 'despotism' of farming, a way of life that takes priority over any other concerns. Although farming is less physically demanding now, it can still be an emotional battle. I'm glad Joanna got her hopeful ending, and I hope she and the children had a happier, healthier life ahead.

Thoroughly recommend. One of those books you read as quickly as possible whilst also wishing it will never end.

[John Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read with a straightforward old fashioned style.Shades of Thomas Hardy ,HE Bates and even Madam Bovary in there.It shows how difficult the 1920s must have been with injured men returning from war and a certain optimism that a war like this would not happen again ( although her Hungarian guest seems to believe that a just cause is always worth fighting for) .As other reviewers have said ,it’s a sad story about the sheer grind of life ,about rural poverty, the class barriers around ( although the landed gentry were going through their own crisis in terms of maintaining a fading glory) and the parochial attitudes that had not yet seen people’s horizons widened by the car and travel.It covers many important themes and is well worth reading.

[Misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holtby is a fine writer, but the story was relentlessly sad but probably especially apt for its day. Joanna is a young woman with a rich imagination who dreams of travel and adventure whose dreams are drastically curtailed when she marries young. Her husband, she learns after WWI, is consumptive and she ends up taking care of him and their two children. Joanna also earns a bad reputation in her small community as the rumor mill runs rife with lascivious speculation. The end if nice, but I grew weary of the rutted tracks of the story itself.

I still want to read "South Riding" at some point, though.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you came across a street called "The Land of Green Ginger," wouldn't you stop in your tracks? How did it come by the name? What does it mean? Winifred Holtby, my newest Goddess of Literature, took this as the title and starting point for her poignant novel about the erosion of dreams and the plight of a young woman who loses everything when she inadvertently tarnishes her reputation. In some ways, the book is an echo of her earlier Anderby Wold, but it was a pleasure to see Holtby the novelist re-working material into something stronger and more nuanced.
And PS - there is a Land of Green Ginger Street in Hull!