A String of Pearls: The Literary Landscape of the Lake District

by Margaret Wilson (Editor), Helen Shaw (Photographer)

Overview

From famous poets such as Wordsworth and Ian McEwan to modern thriller writers such as Reginald Hill and Val McDermid, the awe-inspiring Fells, crashing waterfalls and dramatic still waters of the Lake District have inspired writers for centuries.

In this illustrated anthology, Margaret Wilson has selected the best Lake District literary extracts, each of which photographer Helen Shaw has paired with a stunning local landscape.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781913159245
Publisher:	Merlin Unwin Books
Publication date:	04/22/2021
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Margaret Wilson lives in Leebotwood near Church Stretton. After working in Paris, Madrid and London as a business translator she moved, with her husband and son, to Shropshire. She enjoys walking in the hills, exploring the towns and villages and learning about the county's folklore. She works as a literary editor and proof-reader. Her hobbies include gardening, making theatrical costumes and travel.

Read an Excerpt

1. Daffodils – William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Table of Contents

Editors Preface 6

Map of the Lake District 7

William Wordsworth 8

John Keats 11

Thomas Gray 12

Hartley Coleridge 14

Melvyn Bragg 17

William Wordsworth 18

Ian McEwan 21

John Woodcock Graves 22

Bill Bryson 25

Magnus Mills 27

Arthur Ransome 28

Reginald Hill 31

Sarah Hall 33

Val McDermid 34

Hugh Walpole 37

Patricia Nolan 38

Harriet Fraser 41

Simon Armitage 42

Polly Atkin 44

Margaret Forster 46

H V Morton 49

David Howe 50

James Rebanks 53

Norman Nicholson 54

Richard Adams 57

Marie-Elsa Bragg 59

John Wyatt 60

Robert Southey 62

Ken Hughes 64

Charlie Lambert 67

William Wordsworth 68

Edward St Aubyn 71

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 72

John Pepper 74

John Richardson 76

Jackie Huck 79

Irvine Hunt 80

Chris Bonington 82

Thomas de Quincey 85

Nicholas Size 86

Owen Glynne Jones 89

James Follett 90

Michael Wood 92

Samantha Priestley 94

Mike Carden 97

Pete May 98

Ian Hall 101

Alfred Wainwright 102

Sir Edward Baines 105

Harriet Martineau 106

Hunter Davies 109

Martin Edwards 110

Taffy Thomas 112

AH Griffin 114

William Wordsworth 117

Beatrix Potter 118

Robert Southey 120

Charles Dickens 122

Alfred Wainwright 125

Photographers Notes & Index 126