The Stirrings, the first book by literary critic and essayist Catherine Taylor, is a haunting piece of memoir and cultural history. Its title, taken from the Sheffield Outrages of the 1860s, could allude to a number of different personal and historical events described in the book, such as the discontent expressed by the miners’ strikes during the Thatcher premiership in which much of Taylor’s story is set, and which she describes as part of a cultural commentary skilfully weaved through the memoir, covering other definitional topics of the era such as the Yorkshire Ripper and the looming threat of nuclear war.
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That title could also refer to the early stirrings of womanhood that Taylor experiences as her story progresses – through physical changes, to heartache, to weekend hedonism and cultural awakenings. They could also refer to the foreboding that pervades almost every page, and this foreboding proves not unfounded: families disintegrate, relationships flounder, and friends disappear.
This may sound like gloomy subject matter, and sometimes it is, but the writing is handled with grace and clear-eyed humanity, and the book ends on a hopeful note, with the past and the present combining to form the foundation of a new beginning.
The Stirrings: A Memoir In Northern Time, Catherine Taylor (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
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words JOSHUA REES