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Winds of the Day
This was the last Howard Spring novel to be published in his lifetime, and it features a remarkable character in the form of Alice Openshaw. Orphaned at the age of twelve, Alice is forced to work as a servant in a class-ridden society. However, her harsh experiences only serve to fire her indomitable spirit. Winds of the Day spans both World Wars and traces Alice's moves between Manchester, Cardiff and London. It is the timeless beauty of Cornwall and Alice's home, Dros-y-Mor that are central to her story as she struggles to come to terms with a rapidly changing modern world.
Howard Spring started writing this novel in early January 1963, and finished it in early February 1964.
Howard Spring started writing this novel in early January 1963, and finished it in early February 1964.
351 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Howard Spring
67 books36 followersHOWARD SPRING was an immensely popular and successful writer, who enjoyed a large following of readers from the 1940s to the 1960s; and though, since his death in 1965, he has become rather neglected, his books are still worth seeking out for their terrific storytelling and the quality of the writing. He was certainly painstaking and professional in his approach. Every morning he would shut himself in his study and write one thousand words, steadily building up to novels of around one hundred and fifty thousand words. He rarely made major alterations to his writings (all completed with a dip-in pen!).
Howard Spring started out as a journalist, but from 1934 produced a series of best-selling novels, the most successful of which were My Son My Son and Fame is the Spur.
He was born in Cardiff in 1889 in humble circumstances, one of nine children and the son of a jobbing gardener who died while Howard was still at school. He left school at the age of 12 to begin work as an errand boy, later becoming an office boy at a firm of accountants in Cardiff Docks, and then a messenger at the South Wales Daily News. Spring was keen to train as a reporter, and was largely self-taught --he spent his leisure time learning shorthand and taking evening classes, where he studied English, French, Latin, mathematics and history. He mastered English grammar by studying a book on the subject by William Cobbett.
He worked his way up to become a reporter on the South Wales Daily News, and then in 1911 he joined the Yorkshire Observer in Bradford. By 1915 he was on the Manchester Guardian –proof that he was a young man with much talent. Soon afterwards he was called up for the Army Service Corps, where he served as a shorthand typist. After the war, he returned to the paper in Manchester and worked as a reporter on a paper that allowed journalists to write and express themselves. In 1931, after reporting on a political meeting at which Lord Beaverbrook was the speaker, Beaverbrook was so impressed by Spring's piece (he described the man as ‘a pedlar of dreams’) that he arranged for Spring to be offered a post with the Evening Standard in London, where he eventually became a book reviewer –a successor to Arnold Bennett and J.B. Priestley.
At the same time, Spring was developing his ambition to become a full-time writer. He thought he could do a lot better than many of the so-called authors whose books he was asked to review! His first book, Darkie and Co, came out in 1932 (in this period he wrote a number of children’s books for his sons), followed by his first novel, Shabby Tiger (September 1934) and a sequel, Rachel Rosing (1935).
His first major success came in February 1938 with My Son, My Son (originally titled O Absalom, but, happily, changed when William Faulkner used a similar title in the United States), and in 1939 he was able to move to Cornwall to become a full-time writer (he and his wife, Marion, eventually settled at The White Cottage in Fenwick Road, where they remained for the rest of their married life). In 1940, his best-known work, Fame is the Spur, the story of a Labour leader's rise to power, was published. This is without doubt a superb novel, and probably the one book by Spring that is still being read more than 40 years after his death.
During the war years Spring wrote two other novels, Hard Facts (1944) and Dunkerley's (1946), and, subsequently he published There is No Armour (1948), The Houses in Between (1951), A Sunset Touch (1953), These Lovers Fled Away (1955), Time and the Hour (1957), All The Day Long (1959) and I Met a Lady (1961). Spring also produced three volumes of autobiography--Heaven Lies About Us (1939), In the Meantime (1942); and And Another Thing (1946)—which were later published in one volume as The Autobiography (1972). His last book was Winds of the Day (1964).
It is relevant to note that many of his books had Manchester settings, which led to him being referred to as ‘The Manchester Man’, and
Howard Spring started out as a journalist, but from 1934 produced a series of best-selling novels, the most successful of which were My Son My Son and Fame is the Spur.
He was born in Cardiff in 1889 in humble circumstances, one of nine children and the son of a jobbing gardener who died while Howard was still at school. He left school at the age of 12 to begin work as an errand boy, later becoming an office boy at a firm of accountants in Cardiff Docks, and then a messenger at the South Wales Daily News. Spring was keen to train as a reporter, and was largely self-taught --he spent his leisure time learning shorthand and taking evening classes, where he studied English, French, Latin, mathematics and history. He mastered English grammar by studying a book on the subject by William Cobbett.
He worked his way up to become a reporter on the South Wales Daily News, and then in 1911 he joined the Yorkshire Observer in Bradford. By 1915 he was on the Manchester Guardian –proof that he was a young man with much talent. Soon afterwards he was called up for the Army Service Corps, where he served as a shorthand typist. After the war, he returned to the paper in Manchester and worked as a reporter on a paper that allowed journalists to write and express themselves. In 1931, after reporting on a political meeting at which Lord Beaverbrook was the speaker, Beaverbrook was so impressed by Spring's piece (he described the man as ‘a pedlar of dreams’) that he arranged for Spring to be offered a post with the Evening Standard in London, where he eventually became a book reviewer –a successor to Arnold Bennett and J.B. Priestley.
At the same time, Spring was developing his ambition to become a full-time writer. He thought he could do a lot better than many of the so-called authors whose books he was asked to review! His first book, Darkie and Co, came out in 1932 (in this period he wrote a number of children’s books for his sons), followed by his first novel, Shabby Tiger (September 1934) and a sequel, Rachel Rosing (1935).
His first major success came in February 1938 with My Son, My Son (originally titled O Absalom, but, happily, changed when William Faulkner used a similar title in the United States), and in 1939 he was able to move to Cornwall to become a full-time writer (he and his wife, Marion, eventually settled at The White Cottage in Fenwick Road, where they remained for the rest of their married life). In 1940, his best-known work, Fame is the Spur, the story of a Labour leader's rise to power, was published. This is without doubt a superb novel, and probably the one book by Spring that is still being read more than 40 years after his death.
During the war years Spring wrote two other novels, Hard Facts (1944) and Dunkerley's (1946), and, subsequently he published There is No Armour (1948), The Houses in Between (1951), A Sunset Touch (1953), These Lovers Fled Away (1955), Time and the Hour (1957), All The Day Long (1959) and I Met a Lady (1961). Spring also produced three volumes of autobiography--Heaven Lies About Us (1939), In the Meantime (1942); and And Another Thing (1946)—which were later published in one volume as The Autobiography (1972). His last book was Winds of the Day (1964).
It is relevant to note that many of his books had Manchester settings, which led to him being referred to as ‘The Manchester Man’, and
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 11, 2012
This was the last Howard Spring novel to be published in his lifetime, and it is one of my favourites partly because it was the novel he was working on when I visited him at his Falmouth home in May 1963. It is a typical HS tale, very readable, a good story. It is such a pity that this and so many of Howard Spring's novels are no longer widely available, and it is high time some publisher re-issued the books.
Read
July 28, 2011Like taking a holiday - one of my favourite books by Howard Spring!
Read
May 20, 2012Reading this book takes me to the world of dreams..and it relaxes me.
June 17, 2020
The lifelong saga of Alice Openshaw, from her early days as an illegitimate child, as a servant, running away, years in France and then back to the UK with no home and nowhere to go. She decides on a walkabout but doesn't get too far before she collapses into a ditch with the Spanish flu and is taken in by an elderly couple. It's in this country setting where she finds her place in the world and eventually marries a famous author.
March 2, 2019
Truly beautiful, original and inspiring story; one which you can easily enjoy. Definitely will reread in the future.
February 17, 2020
I love this book. I can read it over and over again.
July 9, 2023
Things I liked about this book:
set in England, so lots of descriptions of houses in the country, and the old fashioned way of life from the 20's to the 40's
I liked the characters. This author has my preferred way of creating characters which is show me who they are by what they do and say.
I agree with the authors overall sentiment in this book which is that the 'progress' made after the Second World War was sad and detrimental to the old fashioned countryside and the architecture of the home etc.
Things I didn't like:
It got a bit long and boring.
and a bit depressing.
There were not very many characters that I really liked.
There's not any passion in the book, it's much more of an informational about this woman's life.
Although overall I do like Howard Spring's writing style...? I think I'll read another one of his books before I decide. Anyways, I won't read this one again, hence the 3 stars.
set in England, so lots of descriptions of houses in the country, and the old fashioned way of life from the 20's to the 40's
I liked the characters. This author has my preferred way of creating characters which is show me who they are by what they do and say.
I agree with the authors overall sentiment in this book which is that the 'progress' made after the Second World War was sad and detrimental to the old fashioned countryside and the architecture of the home etc.
Things I didn't like:
It got a bit long and boring.
and a bit depressing.
There were not very many characters that I really liked.
There's not any passion in the book, it's much more of an informational about this woman's life.
Although overall I do like Howard Spring's writing style...? I think I'll read another one of his books before I decide. Anyways, I won't read this one again, hence the 3 stars.
April 17, 2020
The life of a young servant girl in England- from before WWI through the early 1960’s. Spring’s last book.
May 2, 2023
Must read!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews