‘Anderby World’ was Winifred Holtby’s first novel, written when she was in her early twenties.

She would go on to write finer novels, but this was an excellent start; she wrote of the Yorkshire she knew, understanding the people, the history, the changes wrought by the Great War that she had lived through, and the way that the world was changing still.

The writing has such conviction, and I think it would be fair to say that this is a first novel sowing the seeds of greatness….

When her parents died Mary Robson married John, her steady, sensible, older cousin, so that she could keep the farm at Anderby Wold. It took them ten years to pay off the mortgage, and by then Mary was in full charge of her life and her world. She managed her farm, her home, and the village of Anderby. She was a strong and capable woman, and she was firm in her opinions.

She held her own in her social circle, but she was disliked by many. Sarah Bannister, John’s elder sister, who had raised him after their parents died, felt that Mary didn’t appreciate what John had done, leaving his own farm to help her save hers. Mr Coast, the village schoolmaster, was bitter that Mary wouldn’t accept his ideas for the school.

That made Mary vulnerable. The dullness of her marriage, her failure to produce a child, made her vulnerable. And, with debt gone and the farm secure, there was a space in her life, room for something more

It was then that she met David Rossitur, a red-haired, fiery, young idealist who preached socialism. She was captivated by his energy and his passion, she was intrigued by what he had to say. She loved their debates, but she was less happy when he began his work in the village. A colleague was summoned from Manchester, a union was formed a union, and soon Mary faced a choice between meeting demands that she felt were wholly unreasonable or having her farm-workers strike at the worst-possible time.

The story explores the conflict between traditional and progressive views wonderfully well; understanding both, and understanding that there is no black and white, that there are only shades of grey.

Above all it is a human story; a story of real, fallible, believable human beings, who all had good, solid reasons for being the people they were and doing the things they did.

Sarah was critical of Mary, but that came from her love for her brother, and when she was needed she would always be on their side. Mr Coast was critical, but he wanted the best for his school and his community. John was cautious and conservative, but he was content with his place in the world and he understood his wife much more than she realised.

Mary had so much potential, she could have done so much. But she only had her position at Anderby, and she so feared losing it …..

Winifred Holtby made this story so engaging, so readable, and I was captivated.

There are contrivances needed to make the story work, and there were moments when I might have wished for a little more subtlety, but the story did work, and I loved seeing the themes and ideas that she would explore in all of her novels threaded through this story so effectively.

‘Anderby Wold’ captures a particular place and time, a particular point in history very well.

It was clear that Winifred Holtby cared, and that she understood. ( )

Winifred Holtby was born seven miles from where I was born and I have always felt a connection with her, forged primarily by reading ‘South Riding’ as a teenager and reinforced by re-reading and two television series. And she also did what I wanted to do; she left the Yorkshire Wolds and became a writer. But until now, I am ashamed to say, I had not read her earlier novels. ‘Anderby Wold’ is her first; published in 1923 it is a portrayal of a Yorkshire Wolds village in the first years of the twentieth century. I was struck by the similarity to Jane Austen: both focus on the personalities, tensions, the pettiness, resentments and emotions of small communities, and both combine acute social observations with sharp humour.
The novel opens with a family party at the farm, Anderby Wold, as Mary Robson and John, her husband of ten years and also her cousin, are celebrating a decade of hard work and penny pinching to clear the mortgage on the farm they had inherited. We are introduced to Mary and the family from the viewpoint of John’s sister, the spiteful Sarah. If ever there was a negative first chapter that makes you think the story is going to be full of unlikeable characters, this is it. It is, perhaps, a sign of its times; I am not sure a novel would be published today with such an ill-feeling introduction. But do persist, this novel is worth reading. We are slowly introduced to each key character with their own viewpoint and take on their agricultural world, where hard toil, tough weather and difficult land unites – and separates – the community. Mary thinks of herself as a considerate benevolent mistress, she sits with sick people, visits the old, supports the school, and distributes gifts at Christmas. But she is unaware that some of the farm labourers resent what they see as her Mrs Bountiful role, a vision of her behaviour to which she is blind. She feels dissatisfaction with the minutiae of her life, dissatisfaction she pragmatically ignores. At a gathering of the village ladies, she listens to the gossip, ‘Mary shivered. They were as lifeless as the uprooted trees, carried from the wold side and laid in the back garden of the farm, awaiting destruction for firewood. Their talk was as meaningless as the rustle of dry leaves on brittle twigs.’
Into this fragile world where people speak bluntly and behaviour can be brusque, comes a writer from Manchester. He is researching the lot of the agricultural labourer with an eye on social change. When he comes into conflict with Mary, the beliefs and assumptions of both are challenged in an Austen-esque manner. As an outsider, David Rossitur is treated first with silence, then with suspicion. The innkeeper’s wife worries about his motivations, ‘Mrs Todd, being a personal of small imagination, had divided mankind into two classes, those who had designs on Victoria [her daughter], those who had designs on her Beer. Last night she had come to the regrettable conclusion that David had no true appreciation of Beer.’ A trade union for agricultural workers is formed, followed inevitably for a strike. At harvest time. Anderby Wold will be changed forever.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ ( )

'Hot waves of perfume blew from the ripening corn across their flaming cheeks'
By sally tarbox on 27 Nov. 2012
Format: Paperback
Written in the 1920s, this is the story of Mary Robson - a 28 year old married to a cousin old enough to be her father, in a marriage of convenience. Resigned to her lot, she devotes her time to her home and village affairs. Her interference, as 'queen' of the village, annoys Mr Coast the schoolmaster. And when fiery young socialist David Rossitur shows up and urges the local labourers to strike at harvest time, Coast is only to happy to back him and cause problems for the Robsons.
But Mary is falling for Rossitur...
Perfectly readable but not a very memorable or outstanding work. ( )

This was a hard one to rate (as if that's ever a deeply meaningful exercise!)--it is not a conspicuously artful novel, though it turned out to be better constructed, including conceptually, than I thought at first. It has an effortful quality that worked against it, but it also has an endearing sincerity. Full review to follow on Novel Readings as soon as I can get around to it!

This novel originally published in 1923 was Winifred Holtby's first published novel. While it lacks the scope, drama and power of her final and most famous novel South Riding, there is still much to commend it. An agricultural community on the brink of great change, with the raise of unions and social change is brought faithfully to life. Mary Robson is brilliant portrayed old before her time farmers wife, who believes the villagers couldn't manage without her, and makes herself indispensable. Mary manages the farm, her much older husband deferring to many of her decisions - she's a strong, stubborn woman, yet the readers can see her vulnerability, as her way of life is threatened and her disappointments lead her to desperately try to keep the status quo. Mary's fascination with fiery radical David Rossitur seems doomed from the start, coming as they do from different worlds and different persepectives.
I enjoyed this early Winifred Holtby novel immensely, the writing is glorious, with some fabulous characterisation, which clearly shows the emerging brilliant writer she already was. ( )