South Riding - An English Landscape

Book excerpt: “South Riding” is a 1936 novel by Winifred Holtby, published posthumously. Set in fictional South Riding in Yorkshire, England, it revolves around the lives of young headmistress Sarah Burton, unhappy husband Robert Carne of Maythorpe Hall, socialist Joe Astell, and Alderman Mrs Beddows. Winifred Holtby (1898 – 1935) was an English novelist and journalist, best known for her novel South Riding. She was, an passionate feminist, socialist and pacifist and was a member of the feminist Six Point Group. Holtby's fame was derived mainly from her journalism, including articles for the feminist journal 'Time and Tide', but she also wrote 14 books. These include six novels; two volumes of short stories; the first critical study of Virginia Woolf (1932) and "Women and a Changing Civilization" (1934), a feminist survey with opinions that are still relevant. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition with specially curated introductory material.