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A diary with a difference
The book is a blend of contemporary and historical fiction. The setting for the story is Flintshire and Aberystwyth (Wales), although the story crosses the border to Chester and beyond.
Its contemporary setting has a start in June, 2007; at the age of 20 Judith Thomas begins a diary embracing those significant social and political events up to April, 2009. These include the economic collapse, the war in Iraq, the emerging concept of global warming, the resignation of PM Blair, the rise of Obama, the Olympic games, and flooding in southern England. Our continuing penchant for warfare and our belief in mysticism provide recurring themes in her thoughts.
Judith eventually learns the joy of sexual union with a man who is destined to be her partner for life, and also becomes the target of a modern witch hunt after being embroiled in a plot to smuggle a biological warfare agent into the UK.Two of the major supporting characters in this context are Cheryl Patterson, a gifted translator who suffers the loss of her home during the economic downturn, and Judith’s flatmate, Bronwyn, who needs Judith’s continuing guidance through her spotted love-life.
The historical component arises from her father’s request that she translate a seventeenth century Welsh ‘Testament’ written by a distant ancestor, Jane McCarthy. Judith finds support in a Welsh language group, and collectively they unravel a story of love, drama, and tragedy. As sections (chapters) are translated, these become interleaved in Judith’s diary.
Jane McCarthy is born in 1603 in borderland Wales, and her childhood is shared with her cousin, Ann, who has gifts of both song and deceit-detection. As young adults Jane and Ann marry, have children, and assist other women with their birthing. But their knowledge of birthing comes at a dreadful price; Ann is accused of witchcraft, is tried in Chester, and hung for her crime. A generation on and the families face the horror of the Civil War, and later still, Jane and her daughter, Fflur, are forced to flee Wales when they too are accused of witchcraft. The family eventually settles in the area around Eyam, where another tragedy awaits in the form of the 1665 plague.
Particular attention has been given to seventeenth-century religious and medical beliefs, social habits and sexual mores. Community beliefs relating to witchcraft can be found in records of court proceedings, although detail of the effect of a civil war on the local populace of Wales is more difficult to ascertain. However, since the Welsh backed the King, they suffered accordingly.
After completing the translation of the Testament Judith discovers a lineage of her family living in the same farmhouse as the author of the Testament three and a half centuries before. She also finds that genetic traits of her ancestors have lived on; she and her new-found ‘cousin’, Ann, share an uncommon ability to read truth or falsehood in people they meet and Ann has the same gift of song as her distant namesake.
Its contemporary setting has a start in June, 2007; at the age of 20 Judith Thomas begins a diary embracing those significant social and political events up to April, 2009. These include the economic collapse, the war in Iraq, the emerging concept of global warming, the resignation of PM Blair, the rise of Obama, the Olympic games, and flooding in southern England. Our continuing penchant for warfare and our belief in mysticism provide recurring themes in her thoughts.
Judith eventually learns the joy of sexual union with a man who is destined to be her partner for life, and also becomes the target of a modern witch hunt after being embroiled in a plot to smuggle a biological warfare agent into the UK.Two of the major supporting characters in this context are Cheryl Patterson, a gifted translator who suffers the loss of her home during the economic downturn, and Judith’s flatmate, Bronwyn, who needs Judith’s continuing guidance through her spotted love-life.
The historical component arises from her father’s request that she translate a seventeenth century Welsh ‘Testament’ written by a distant ancestor, Jane McCarthy. Judith finds support in a Welsh language group, and collectively they unravel a story of love, drama, and tragedy. As sections (chapters) are translated, these become interleaved in Judith’s diary.
Jane McCarthy is born in 1603 in borderland Wales, and her childhood is shared with her cousin, Ann, who has gifts of both song and deceit-detection. As young adults Jane and Ann marry, have children, and assist other women with their birthing. But their knowledge of birthing comes at a dreadful price; Ann is accused of witchcraft, is tried in Chester, and hung for her crime. A generation on and the families face the horror of the Civil War, and later still, Jane and her daughter, Fflur, are forced to flee Wales when they too are accused of witchcraft. The family eventually settles in the area around Eyam, where another tragedy awaits in the form of the 1665 plague.
Particular attention has been given to seventeenth-century religious and medical beliefs, social habits and sexual mores. Community beliefs relating to witchcraft can be found in records of court proceedings, although detail of the effect of a civil war on the local populace of Wales is more difficult to ascertain. However, since the Welsh backed the King, they suffered accordingly.
After completing the translation of the Testament Judith discovers a lineage of her family living in the same farmhouse as the author of the Testament three and a half centuries before. She also finds that genetic traits of her ancestors have lived on; she and her new-found ‘cousin’, Ann, share an uncommon ability to read truth or falsehood in people they meet and Ann has the same gift of song as her distant namesake.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 28, 2012
About the author
Martin Line
3 booksBack To Scratch took me eight years to write, which some would see as a criminal waste of time. I work as a software developer in Cheltenham and have three beautiful children, one of whom did the cover for the book and is constantly demanding his share of the royalties.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 15, 2014
I am so glad Martin is a member of Gold Coast Writers and I had the opportunity to read this book. It is wonderfully engrossing and keeps the reader wanting to know what happens next.
Judith Thomas is an uninteresting person in her own eyes, twenty, without a boyfriend and celebrating her birthday with her parents. Her mother gives her a diary to put in her daily mundane experiences. Her father gives her a manuscript that has been passed down through the family; it is ancient and written in ‘Old Welsh’ so no one has been able to read it. Judith is given the initially onerous task of translating ‘The Testament’ for her father.
What she discovers is that instead of being a boring account of life in the sixteen hundreds ‘The Testament’ is a remarkable account of her family history. She joins a Welsh evening class who assist with the translation and what unfolds is a grim piece of history, the story begins simply; ‘The Testament of Jane McCarthy 1603... Personal recollections leading to our flight from Flintshire.’
With Judith’s own research taking an unexpected turn she finds herself being falsely accused of terorisms and the experience of being incarcerated without any evidence for this is unnerving, especially when it brings home the helplessness Jane McCarthy must have felt when her best friend is falsely accused of Witchcraft and sent to the gallows.
During her journey of her own year of journal entries Judith completes her Thesis after successful trial of a beneficial agricultural nature, makes special friends at the Welsh group, finds love and a branch of the family she never knew existed. All this she shares with her parents and they make the pilgrimage to a grave site that becomes personally significant.
At a recent meeting of Gold Coast Writers, Martin was questioned about the format of his book with the paragraphs being justified to the left. I can tell you, from my experience, the presentation certainly is no distraction from the riveting story. I suggest you buy a copy to enjoy yourself
Judith Thomas is an uninteresting person in her own eyes, twenty, without a boyfriend and celebrating her birthday with her parents. Her mother gives her a diary to put in her daily mundane experiences. Her father gives her a manuscript that has been passed down through the family; it is ancient and written in ‘Old Welsh’ so no one has been able to read it. Judith is given the initially onerous task of translating ‘The Testament’ for her father.
What she discovers is that instead of being a boring account of life in the sixteen hundreds ‘The Testament’ is a remarkable account of her family history. She joins a Welsh evening class who assist with the translation and what unfolds is a grim piece of history, the story begins simply; ‘The Testament of Jane McCarthy 1603... Personal recollections leading to our flight from Flintshire.’
With Judith’s own research taking an unexpected turn she finds herself being falsely accused of terorisms and the experience of being incarcerated without any evidence for this is unnerving, especially when it brings home the helplessness Jane McCarthy must have felt when her best friend is falsely accused of Witchcraft and sent to the gallows.
During her journey of her own year of journal entries Judith completes her Thesis after successful trial of a beneficial agricultural nature, makes special friends at the Welsh group, finds love and a branch of the family she never knew existed. All this she shares with her parents and they make the pilgrimage to a grave site that becomes personally significant.
At a recent meeting of Gold Coast Writers, Martin was questioned about the format of his book with the paragraphs being justified to the left. I can tell you, from my experience, the presentation certainly is no distraction from the riveting story. I suggest you buy a copy to enjoy yourself
Displaying 1 of 1 review