The Northern Clemency – Philip Hensher

READ FOR BOOKERTHON

Covering 1974 to 1996, The Northern Clemency is a portrait of an era, a novel concerned with the lives of two ordinary Sheffield families, the Glovers and the Sellers, and history on the move.

♥ This book encapsulates an era and follows the lives of two suburban families living in the same street. The true-to-life characters are highly detailed and we hear of their births, marriages, emigration, retirement, illness and deaths, all real life stuff. Okay being eaten by a shark is not all that usual but still, the book is very realistic and addictive – Rachel

♥ There is no surprising plot twist here, instead cooking of meals, gardening, family arguments, gossip and relationships fill the pages. The scene I remember the most, which both shocked me and set the realism tone, was when one of the mothers became so enraged she ran outside with her child’s pet snake and stomped it to death. No this actual act is probably not something most of us can identify with, but the pure frustration of motherhood and being pushed to the edge is. – Suzy

 —–
Published 2008
Harper Collins
736 pages