The Meeting Place

Today I saw the strange woman again. For I am sure this poor ghost is, in fact, a woman. It is true she is dressed as a man, though no man I ever saw dressed in quite this fashion . . .When Clarice Mitchell arrives at an isolated farmhouse to rehearse a production of Pericles, she leaves the well-charted country behind. Entering a world as mysterious as the unregulated, unpredictable moorland, she finds herself in odd company and on the verge of strange discoveries.Who is the middle-aged woman in Victorian costume who watches her. And the wild-haired girl first glimpsed standing in a moorland pool and later on a journey? Why does the shadow of a priory long since gone still fall across the farm where Clarice is staying, and where once her old headmistress used to stay?As the stories of these unusual women interweave across the centuries - disturbing stories of violence and witchcraft, passion and prejudice, during the Wars of the Roses, in stifling Victorian England and in the present day - one woman has to come to terms with the impossible choices of the past.Crafted with all Mary Hocking's characteristic subtlety and skill, The Meeting Place is a spellbinding, moving novel.

About the author

Born in in London in 1921, Mary was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Girls School, Acton. During the Second World War she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) attached to the Fleet Air Arm Meteorology branch and then briefly with the Signal Section in Plymouth.

Writing was in her blood. Juggling her work as a local government officer in Middlesex Education Department with writing, at first short stories for magazines and pieces for The Times Educational Supplement, she then had her first book, The Winter City, published in 1961.

The book was a success and enabled Mary to relinquish her full time occupation to devote her time to writing. Even so, when she came to her beloved Lewes in 1961, she still took a part-time appointment, as a secretary, with the East Sussex Educational Psychology department.

Long before family sagas had become cult viewing, she had embarked upon the 'Fairley Family' trilogy - Good Daughters, Indifferent Heroes, and Welcome Strangers - books which give her readers a faithful, realistic and uncompromising portrayal of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times, between the years of 1933 and 1946.

For many years she was an active member of the 'Monday Lit', a Lewes-based group which brought in current writers and poets to speak about their work. Equally, she was an enthusiastic supporter of Lewes Little Theatre, where she found her role as 'prompter' the most satisfying, and worshipped at the town's St Pancras RC Church.

Summary

Today I saw the strange woman again. For I am sure this poor ghost is, in fact, a woman. It is true she is dressed as a man, though no man I ever saw dressed in quite this fashion . . .

When Clarice Mitchell arrives at an isolated farmhouse to rehearse a production of Pericles, she leaves the well-charted country behind. Entering a world as mysterious as the unregulated, unpredictable moorland, she finds herself in odd company and on the verge of strange discoveries.

Who is the middle-aged woman in Victorian costume who watches her. And the wild-haired girl first glimpsed standing in a moorland pool and later on a journey? Why does the shadow of a priory long since gone still fall across the farm where Clarice is staying, and where once her old headmistress used to stay?

As the stories of these unusual women interweave across the centuries - disturbing stories of violence and witchcraft, passion and prejudice, during the Wars of the Roses, in stifling Victorian England and in the present day - one woman has to come to terms with the impossible choices of the past.

Crafted with all Mary Hocking's characteristic subtlety and skill, The Meeting Place is a spellbinding, moving novel.

Product details

• Authors: Mary Hocking
• Publisher: Bello
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 14.07.2016
• EAN: 9781509819850
• ISBN: 978-1-5098-1985-0
• No. of pages: 172
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 234 mm x 14 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature > Historical novels and narratives