Cryers Hill
“Cryers Hill” by Kitty Aldridge, published by Jonathan Cape in 2007, is a novel that explores the lives of young men in Buckinghamshire, England, across different decades. The narrative begins in 1934 with Walter Brown, who encounters a girl at a woodland pond, setting the stage for a poignant exploration of youth and memory. The story then shifts to 1969, where Sean Matthews navigates the complexities of growing up in the same village, marked by significant historical events and personal transformations.
Readers will find a rich tapestry of experiences as the characters grapple with their identities and the social conditions of their time. The novel delves into themes of outdoor life and the impact of correspondence on soldiers, reflecting the intertwined lives of its protagonists. With 352 pages of engaging storytelling, “Cryers Hill” invites readers to reflect on the passage of time and the moments that shape us, all while maintaining a focus on the ordinary infused with a sense of wonder.
Official synopsis Publisher
Walter Brown went alone to the woodland pond on a July afternoon in 1934. He saw his girl swimming there. She wasn’t his girl then, but he knew she would be. He was sixteen when he knew. He watched her floating and saw how white her skin was in the green water, her belly, her breasts, her pond-tangled hair. A naked girl. Then she turned over like an otter and dived down. She did not come up again. Two boys…Sean Matthews stands at the bottom of George’s Hill, more or less the very centre of the housing estate, with his hands on his hips. School is finished for the summer and last night, 20 July 1969, two men landed on the moon. There is a notice announcing it in the classroom. Jhe spaesmen hav landid in Jhe see ov trankwility. Funetic words, as if it were a huge laugh; but phonetics is not supposed to be funny. It is important and clever. It is a nationwide experiment, government-sanctioned. Sean and his friends are the guinea pigs. Wur…growing up in the same village thirty-five years apart. When Sean Matthews unknowingly witnesses an event he cannot bear to remember, his life is changed forever. Hailed by Salman Rushdie on the publication of her first novel as ‘a real discovery, a writer of precision, delicacy and wit’, Kitty Aldridge brings us “Cryers Hill”, a novel that confirms her as a writer of immense talent, possessing the rare gift of enabling us to see the world anew, infusing the ordinary with a sense of wonder.
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