Fakenham printers help re-issue Mann books
PRINTERS in Fakenham have teamed up with a Norfolk publisher to re-issue three books by the much-acclaimed novelist Mary Mann.
The author, who died in 1929, produced 39 books over a period of some 30 years. Now three have been brought to life once again thanks to the partnership between the town's Lanceni Press and Larks Press in Guist Bottom, Dereham.
Born and brought up in a wealthy middle class family in Norwich in 1848, Mary moved to a small farming community after her marriage to Fairman Mann and drew on village life as her inspiration.
Her first book, The Parish of Hilby, was described in a review of 1883 as "producing portraits absolutely lifelike". It is based on the village of Shropham, near Attleborough, where Mary lived with her farmer husband and four children. She calls it Dulditch in the book. Few punches are pulled in portraying the rigid class system of the time, from the squire to the vicar, the tenant farmer to the most impoverished labourer.
Farming had gone into even greater crisis when Mary wrote The Patten Experiment, published in 1899. The experiment in the title is carried out by five affluent young people in Dulditch who try to live on a labourer's wages of 11 shillings for a week. At first the challenge is fun but hunger and exhaustion change all that.
Rose At Honeypot came out in 1906, an accurate and at times shocking depiction of life in rural Norfolk. At the heart of the novel is an unconsummated affair between a young married woman and a gamekeeper. The class system remains firmly entrenched, the agricultural depression seemingly an irreversible fact of living. By this stage, Mary had really made a name for herself and the novel went into several editions.
A tribute to the writer is contained in a foreword written by Patience Tomlinson, from Stanhoe, who has created a one-woman show about Mary and has broadcast several of her short stories on the radio.
All three books are being published in paperback. The Parish of Hilby is priced at 9.50, The Patten Experiment, 7.50 and Rose At Honeypot also 7.50.
The publishers are also planning to re-issue more Mary Mann titles and may be contacted on 01328 829207.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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