‘No. I’ll be your man.’
He turned his smile on her, which, it seemed, was all he needed to do, because all her doubts and fears proved as insubstantial as gossamer in the wind. He pushed himself down from the bough so that he could face her, then he folded her into his arms and held her close enough to feel the beat of her heart against his chest. For a while he stood silently and breathed her in. Then he spoke, and she could feel his voice in her hair.
‘Life is full of uncertainty, Eve, twists and turns we don’t expect, a future we can’t predict. So, in the end, the only really important thing is who we love, and who loves us back in return.’
‘Well,’ she said. ‘I love you.’
‘And I love you.’
They left it at that, because there was no hurry any more, no urgent sense of time contracting. Their days spread out before them, unthreatened by train journeys and other people’s plans. There were, however, folk to meet. He lifted her off the bough and set her down, and they walked together out of the woods to find the rest of her family, up on the common.
Did Netherwood whet
your appetite for an
authentic taste of
Yorkshire?
Then try your hand
at the following
recipes from
Eve’s kitchen.
Recipes From
Eve’s Kitchen
Raised Pork Pie
Ingredients
(For the filling)
A pound and a half of lean, boneless pork from the leg
Half a pound of fat, boneless pork from the belly
A dash of anchovy essence
3 tablespoons of stock
Salt and pepper to taste
(For the hot water crust pastry)
12oz plain flour
A quarter teaspoon of salt
4oz lard
A quarter pint of water
(For the jelly)
A quarter pint of good, reduced meat stock, made with bones,
gristle, onion, carrots and herbs.
Method
Dice lean and fat pork and mix together. Add anchovy essence and stock. Leave to stand while making the pastry.
Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Heat the lard in the water until melted. Add the flour to the hot liquid and stir vigorously until well blended. When the dough is cool enough to handle, place on a floured work surface and knead energetically until smooth. Allow to rest for one hour at room temperature.
Roll out the dough. Lightly grease and line a seven-inch raised pie tin. Cut a circle of pastry the depth and circumference of the sides of the tin, then mould and shape the dough into place. Bring the crust a half-inch above the top of the tin.
Put in the filling, then cut out a circular portion of dough for the lid. Cut a small hole in its centre, then place it on top of the pie and seal the edges and trim. With the left over pastry, fashion a rose, large enough to sit over the hole. Decorative pastry leaves may be added at this stage too. Brush with an egg wash.
Bake in a moderate oven for about three hours, though it may be more, or less, depending on your oven. Lower the heat after two hours if the pastry seems to be catching. When ready, remove the pie from the oven.
Carefully remove the rose from the centre and pour in the reduced stock. Leave the pie somewhere cold for several hours for the jelly to set.
Serve in wedges with homemade chutneys.
Steak and Kidney Pudding
Ingredients
(For the suet crust pastry)
Half a pound of plain flour
A good pinch of salt
4oz suet
Cold water to bind
(For the pie filling)
One and a half pounds of chuck steak
Half a pound of ox kidney
One onion, sliced
Seasoned flour
Worcestershire sauce
Good beef stock
Method
For the suet crust, sift the flour into a mixing bowl then sprinkle the suet in, mixing lightly with your hands to distribute evenly. Gradually sprinkle in cold water and mix with a round-bladed knife until you have a smooth, elastic dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Rest the dough for five minutes, then roll out for use.
Line a greased two-pint pudding basin with the dough.
Chop the steak and kidney into small pieces, toss in the seasoned flour, scatter the onion slices into the meat mixture and add to the pastry-lined basin. Pour in the stock to about three-quarters of the way up the meat filling. Add a dash of Worcestershire Sauce.
Roll out a pastry lid, dampen its edges, and press and seal well on top of the pudding.
Cover with a muslin lid, or greaseproof paper, pleated in the centre to allow the pudding to rise. Tie securely into place with string around the neck of the basin.
Steam over boiling water for five hours, adding more water to the pan beneath the steamer as necessary. Turn out onto a platter and serve with seasonal vegetables.
Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
8oz plain flour
3 eggs
Half a pint of milk
Pinch of salt
Beef dripping, for cooking
Method one
Sift the flour with the salt. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs. (An extra egg white may be added at this stage for a higher, lighter pudding.) Gradually whisk in the milk – you may not need to use it all – until you have a thick, smooth batter that easily coats the back of a spoon. Leave to rest.
Heat the dripping in a roasting tin until smoking hot. Add the rested batter and bake for about three-quarters of an hour, or until golden brown and crisp. You may need to reduce the heat when the pudding has risen.
Cut into portions and serve with gravy.
NB For small puddings, use moulds as for fairy cakes or buns, and reduce the cooking time to half an hour.
Method two
If you’re roasting a beef joint, you may bake the pudding in the tin used to cook the meat, first straining away the juices for use in your gravy, but leaving the fat in the tin.
Pour the batter into the tin and cook until nicely browned. The meat should be returned to the oven to finish on a rack above the pudding, adding its juices to the batter. This method is delicious, but does give a flatter, crisper pudding.
Anna’s pig parcels (golubtzi)
Ingredients
1-2 large savoy cabbages
Pork sausage meat
Chopped mixed herbs
Chopped tomatoes
One onion, chopped
Good chicken stock
Method
Take off the largest leaves from the cabbages, and in a large saucepan of boiling water, blanch them until soft. Remove and pat dry.
Mix the herbs with the sausage meat, and place a spoonful in the centre of each leaf. Fold the leaves, wrapping the pork inside, and fasten with a wooden toothpick, or with twine.
Gently fry the onion in oil in a wide, shallow pan until soft and sweet. Add the chopped tomato and fry for a minute or two. Season with salt and pepper.
Pack the cabbage parcels into the pan, as snugly as possible. Pour over the stock to just cover.
Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for half an hour. If the parcels rise above the broth, turn them over from time to time. Butter beans, soaked overnight and cooked, may be added to the sauce before serving.
Drop Scones
Ingredients
4oz plain flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar
1 egg
A quarter pint of milk
2 tablespoons of melted butter
Method
Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and – if you wish – a few raisins or sultanas. Add the egg and the milk, and beat well until you have a smooth batter. Add to this the melted butter.
Grease
a griddle and put it on the heat. Test by dropping a small spoonful of batter onto the griddle and if the heat is right, small bubbles will form within a short while on the surface of the batter.
Drop large spoonfuls of batter onto the griddle, flipping them over after two minutes to cook on the other side for the same length of time. Lay the cooked scones on a clean cloth over a wire cooling tray.
Serve with butter and homemade jam.
Eve’s Pudding
Ingredients
A pound and a half of best Bramley apples
4oz sugar
lemon juice
4oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4oz plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Method
Peel and core the apples, then slice them thinly. Put them in a pie dish with a splash of cold water, the sugar and some lemon juice. Bake in a moderate oven until the apple slices begin to soften and break down.
Cream together the butter and the sugar until soft and pale. Gradually add the beaten eggs to the mixture, little by little, then sift the flour and baking powder and fold it in.
Spoon the sponge batter over the top of the baked apple mixture, and put in the oven for about fifty minutes, or until the top has risen and is pale golden. Sprinkle with sugar to finish.
Bibliography
Adams, Samuel and Sarah, The Complete Servant (Southover Press, 1989).
Arthur, Max, Lost Voices of the Edwardians (Harper Press, 2006).
Bailey, Catherine, Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty (Penguin Books, 2008).
Davies, Jennifer, The Victorian Kitchen Garden (BBC Books, 1987).
Davies, Jennifer, The Victorian Kitchen (BBC Books, 1989). Dawes, Frank Victor, Not in Front of the Servants (Century, 1989).
Elliott, Brian, A Century of Barnsley (Sutton Publishing, 2000).
Elliott, Brian, Yorkshire Miners (This History Press, 2004).
Elliott, Brian, South Yorkshire Mining Disasters, volumes I and II (Wharncliffe Books, 2009).
Howes, Geoffrey, Around Hoyland (Sutton Publishing, 1989).
Mulvagh, Jane, Madresfield: The Real Brideshead (Black Swan, 2009).
Patten, Marguerite, Classic British Dishes (Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 1994).
Threlkeld, John, Pits (Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd, 1994).
White, Florence, Good Things in England (Persephone Books, 1999).
Reading group discussion points
Netherwood draws heavily on class distinctions in early twentieth-century Britain – did you find the attitudes discussed surprising or shocking?
How would you compare and contrast Eve and Henrietta?
What is the central theme of the book and how did it resonate with you?
There is much food imagery in this novel. Can you explain why imagery is so important in the story and how effective it is?
How are relationships between the classes portrayed in the book?
Who is your favourite/least favourite character and how true did each of them feel?
What do you think will happen in the next book in the series?
There are a number of significant – and very different – male characters in this book. In what ways did each of them help or hinder Eve?
There are various different businesses described in this novel – how does working life differ from today?
What do you think Anna’s presence in Netherwood says about the political situation in the wider world?
The turn of the twentieth-century was a time of great political change in Britain too – how does Netherwood reflect the catalysts for that?
Do you think Eve, Henrietta and Anna are typical of their era and class?
Q&A with Jane Sanderson
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes, and I’ve always written to one extent or another, though for many years it was as a journalist and not as a writer of fiction. When I was eleven, though, I wrote an extremely emotional and heartfelt piece about the lives of pit ponies at my dad’s old colliery – perhaps that was the beginning of Netherwood …
How did you research Netherwood?
Well I’ve just mentioned my dad, Bob Sanderson: he was very much my chief mining consultant and he has the most amazing recall of authentic detail. His own working life started the day after his fourteenth birthday at the local colliery, and although it was the 1940s, not 1903, lots of his memories were still tremendously valuable to me. The food – all those pies and puddings – was what my Grandma, Nellie Sanderson, used to cook for me. Other than that it was books, books and more books – my desk and windowledge are piled high. I had a lovely view towards Hay Bluff when I began, and now I can barely see it!
What is your writing day like?
Ah, I wish I could say I wake with the larks and write until lunchtime every day. In fact, my writing days are never the same. Life in the country with three children, two holiday cottages and a small menagerie has a habit of filling up time, so basically I write whenever I can: some days are very productive, some are hopeless. I just have to go with the flow and make the most of my writing time when I find it. I should probably be more disciplined, but there we go. I find I can’t write if my head is full of other things that need doing.
What does it feel like to see your debut novel published?
Absolutely, completely, overwhelmingly wonderful.
What advice would you give to aspiring novelists?
I hardly feel qualified to say! But the best piece of advice I ever heard was, just make a start. Get something down, because you can always go back and improve on it, but you can’t edit a blank page. And don’t worry if you don’t know the ending, or even the middle. Start writing and you’ll find you’re going somewhere. Finally, I would say don’t stop reading other books when you’re writing one yourself – we all find our own voices by learning from others more experienced at the craft.
Where do your characters come from and how do they evolve?
My characters are a real mix of people I knew when I was growing up and people who exist only in my imagination. Eve Williams and Nellie Kay, for example, were both inspired by my Grandma, although she was only a starting point – there’s certainly nothing biographical about Netherwood! There’s a huge cast of characters so at times it felt like a bit of a juggle to keep them all going, but the main protagonists were very clear in my mind and that made the writing easier; they developed and grew very naturally and sometimes it felt as if it was in spite of me and not because of me. That sounds very odd, but honestly – they took on a life of their own. I always found that if I didn’t know what to write next, I could write about Anna and she would show me the way. Everyone should know an Anna Rabinovich.
Did the writing of Netherwood throw up any surprises for you?
Not surprises exactly, but I learned a lot about the mining community I grew up in and its relationship at the turn of the twentieth-century with the local aristocratic family. The Earl and Countess of Netherwood are fictional, but were typical of the landed ruling class of the time. I also learned that the famous Yorkshire characteristic of dropping ‘the’ in favour of ‘t” is called a dental fricative – I’ve been doing it all my life and never knew what it was called!
Do you have a favourite character in Netherwood?
I grew to love all of the main characters. I was so sad to have to kill off Arthur! Eve, Anna and Henrietta are all women I would like to be friends with. Amos is wonderful – a composite of all the dry, dour but kind men who populate towns like Netherwood. And I have to confess I have a soft spot for Tobias: well, who wouldn’t?
Will there be a sequel?
Most definitely, and it will pick up precisely where Netherwood leaves off.
What do you think of TV period dramas? Who would you cast in the TV adaptation of Netherwood?
I’m a great fan of period dramas; they’re wonderfully escapist and gorgeous to look
at – perfect Sunday evening viewing. I love those big, overpopulated nineteenth-century stories like South Riding or Cranford, where the main storylines intertwine with the small dramas of daily life. As for Netherwood, well … as long as they can pull off an authentic Yorkshire accent, I shall be happy!
You portray two strong women in Eve and Henrietta. How are they similar, despite the differences in their circumstance?
Eve and Henrietta are spirited, strong and capable – typical Yorkshire women in fact. They don’t suffer fools gladly, although from time to time they both have to. I feel a little sorry for Henrietta though; in spite of – or perhaps because of – her great wealth and privilege, she is less free than Eve to fulfill her potential. Henrietta admires Eve greatly and is also, I think, a little envious of her independence.
What do you enjoy reading?
A mix of classic and contemporary novels. I just finished Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, but before that I read and really loved The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher. I like books that span a few years and encompass the lives of a lot of people. Every five years or so I revisit Jane Austen and read my way through the complete works as a special treat.
If you enjoyed
Netherwood, turn
the page for the first
chapter of the next book in
the series, published by
Sphere in September 2012
Chapter 1
High on the northern side of the mining town of Netherwood was a wind-blown swathe of common land – not vast, certainly not a wilderness, but wide and varied enough for a person who walked there to feel unfettered and alone. It wasn’t much to look at: coarse grass more yellow than green, pockets of unchecked scrub, spiteful, unruly gangs of hawthorn, the occasional jagged, craggy outcrop hinting at a wild and different geology before man roamed the earth, let alone farmed or mined it. According to a bill of commoners’ rights, the people of the town could put their livestock out to graze here, but in this community of miners it wasn’t much of an advantage. The grass was kept down by a small herd of retired pit ponies, stocky little Welsh breeds that had survived the rigours of their long, underground life and been given the freedom of the common in return. Once in a blue moon someone managed to acquire a pig but the common was unfenced, and while the ponies always managed to understand the boundaries, pigs seemed cursed by curiosity and wanderlust: a rudimentary pen built by Percy Medlicott a few years before had failed to contain his Tamworth sow. The pen, against everyone’s predictions, was still standing but the sow had met an early end on Turnpike Lane in a collision with a coach-and-four. Percy had had to share the spoils with the driver, who had been unseated from the box by the accident; the man had travelled home to York the following day with a fractured collarbone, a half-leg pork joint and a packet of loin chops, by way of compensation.
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