BINDER TWINE AND RABBIT STEW

by Joan Kent

Following Lamplight on Cottage Loaves, this is a collection of the author's stories about her life as a farmer's daughter in the thirties and the war years. In "The Sweet Smell of Revenge" and "It's Just Not Cricket," the rivalry between Lockley Green and the author's village results in ungentlemanly behavior.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1930s and 40s are recalled by a farmer's daughter. Her siblings having left, Joan was growing up as helper to both parents, in house and field. She describes the characters and animals, some of both being pretty much feral, all living in abject poverty.
Not all houses had electricity or running water or indoor bathrooms. Potato planting, picking and grain harvesting were done by hand in back-breaking labour. Cheese and butter were made in the dairy. Yard dogs were neglected and unsocialised, so when they got loose they wouldn't come to name and killed sheep. Village fairs were big occasions and deference had to be given to the rich landowning family. Gypsies, the farrier, blacksmith and threshers, the wanderer with the donkey, all stride through the pages, worn out before their time, giving birth in sheds during winter. Horses were a major part of life, yet were often ill-treated or forced to work when they were infirm.
Joan, condemning the auctioning off of farm lives, the building on fields and plastic encroachment, recalls her early life as Paradise. Yet it wasn't. Life was simpler and richer with nature, but a winter with no electricity or piped water - no thanks.

I noticed a good deal of detail I've seen in similar books, like pipes and casings for wells being made from elm wood.
I borrowed this book from the Royal Dublin Society Library. This is an unbiased review.

[Phil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this because it was filed in the factual section of the bookshop and labelled 'non fiction' on the cover, so I was really disappointed to read inside the cover that 'the characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.' One would have hoped that a publisher would be able to understand the difference between fact and fiction, even if an author can't.