Ridge and Furrow

by Neil Sentance

In his haunting debut, Water and Sky, published in 2014, Neil Sentance explored the history of his family and the landscape which shaped them. Ridge and Furrow continues the project to chart in prose the voices of a seldom recorded people and place. From the long shadows of war and want, to facing the great changes to rural life in the twentieth century, to first forays into a world beyond the flatlands of Lincolnshire, the book delicately portrays the dreams of lone, and often lonely, figures in one family's history. Ridge and Furrow melds memoir and fiction, place and nature writing, told with characteristic lyricism and muddy realism.

Genres: Nature

96 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2019

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this brief book Neil Sentence creates brief vignettes of his extended family going back into the early twentieth century to chart the changes in rural life over the time period. The setting is Lincolnshire, although one family member ends up in Denmark and Sentance writes in relation to himself when he was living on the continent.
This is not so much Magic realism as muddy realism in the flat clay fields:
“The clay heaps under his feet, the furrows lengthening all the way to the stripped hedgerows beyond. A hare makes to scamper across his path, but sees him, coils and bolts the other way, gone in a breath.”
This is a follow up volume to Water and Sky and it records and commemorates people seldom heard from or recorded. It charts war, poverty and change. There is an interesting collection of photographs (black and white) mainly from the 40s, 50s and 60s, but some earlier. The portraits are haunting and wistful; portraying the tough life of agricultural communities and the rapid changes of the twentieth century.
This is a fascinating and poignant collection which preserves voices often lost; a form of oral history of those history would easily forget.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Water and Sky, Neil Sentance told us about some of the members of his family and the Lincolnshire landscape where they lived and how it shaped his life and theirs. In Ridge and Furrow, he is back to tell us about some more characters.

The first story is about Frank, a gentleman who had been married to Lottie and since she had passed, his life had felt empty and hollow. His memories of the time spent with her lay heavy on his mind and in time they became overwhelming. There are memories of his mother, a teenager when the big freeze hit in the sixties and a big fan of the Westerns, something she passes to Neil.

He writes about Harold who had had many different jobs; bus conductor, an ambulance driver miner, working in a forge but now is a gravedigger. Trying to chip through the frozen ground to lay the winter dead to rest is hard work. Then there is the story of Fred, a giant of a man and tough farmer with a tendency to drink hard at times and his wife Florrie who worked equally hard on their farm

These stories, essays and vignettes to members of his family are full of life’s rich memories, from the happy moments and tragedies that hit every family in each generation. I liked the way that he starts with a relatively recent history and walks us back through the time in the company of his family. He is quite some writer and if there was one flaw it is quite a short book and leaves you wanting more.

[Sophy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

A short but sentimental look at those members of a farming community family over a number of decades.

What strikes me most is how unhappy a lot of these people are; women tied to the home with missed opportunities and severely constricted views of life, widows and widowers finding it difficult to carry on after their other half has gone, harsh lessons in love.

A sad read really.

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another slim volume of essays about different generations of the author’s family, beautifully written. Real people, real lives.

[Stewart Monckton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small, but rather wonderful book about people and the land that makes them.

Recommended.