Portrait of Elmbury

Brensham Trilogy #1

by John Moore

1st Pan 1971 edition edition paperback original cover vg+ In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Memoir, Nature, Nonfiction, British Literature

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Author of the Brensham Trilogy.

John Moore (1907-1967) was a British author and pioneer conservationist. He was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire in 1907 and died in Bristol in 1967. His most famous work was Portrait of Elmbury, published in 1945, about life in Tewkesbury in the early 20th century. This work, along with Brensham Village and The Blue Field, formed part of the 'Brensham Trilogy'. Most of his books had a rural setting and long before conservation came to mainstream media attention he wrote about the effect of technological advances on the countryside and rural life.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Mary Warnement · Rating 4 out of 5]

My one quibble with Slightly Foxed is that when they publish just one part of a multi-volume series, they leave me wanting more. Yes, I could look up another edition, but they ruin me for those other books. The sun is setting as I write this, and the sun was setting on the British Empire and village life in John Moore's memoir of his home town. I wish I'd had a teacher like Mr. Chorlton. I wish I'd had at the chance to be taught Latin as a youth. There are a few descriptions shocking to our modern ear that make for unpleasant reading, (I'm talking about just a few sentences out of 288 pages.) And there are other moments of shocking modernity.

Is this a great book? Are these great books? I enjoy these views of another time and place. They help me locate myself, far better than GPS. He ends with a Latin quotation, thus appealing to my vanity of being in the know. Would sharing be a spoiler? Probably not, but I won't. How would my memoir end? Will anyone care what it was like to be a bookish female at the end of the 20th c and into the 21st? Yes, someone will. And I hope someone's writing, and SF will be around to publish the overlooked ones.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure what shelf to place this on. It's memoir, history, descriptive of place, probably slightly fictionalized? Take no notice of some of the criticisms in the other reviews and comments below: descriptions which nowadays are considered racist or antisemitic simply were not when this was written in the 1940s about the first four decades of the 20th century. There is far more tolerance, love and acceptance of Jews and African Americans in these pages, than is often the case in our days that are so much more careful about the language we use.

I've had this book on my shelves for a few years, but only just got around to reading it. It made me laugh out loud, and it made me cry too, for the beautiful diversity of humanity, and for its simple courage in the face of the militaristic folly of those who - God knows how - come to direct the course of nations.

Just today I read some words of Rose Tremain: "This century feels like the End of Days. Terror, pity and exasperation crowd our minds. To whom or to what, then, can we turn to find hope?" She recommends Sarah Bakewell's How To Live (which I also love and warmly recommend). But I would add, Portrait of Elmbury is also a book to give us hope in times like these.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having recently read and thoroughly enjoyed John Moore’s 1965 novel, The Waters Under the Earth, I was keen to explore more of his work. Portrait of Elmbury is the first in probably his most well-known and bestselling work, generally known as the ‘Brensham Trilogy’. Inspired by and closely modelled on his own childhood and young manhood in the Gloucestershire market town of Tewkesbury from 1913 to the Second World War it is a lyrical, affectionate and gently humorous account of a society and way of life that has now almost disappeared, but which was still very much in evidence in my rural childhood in the 1960s and 70s. John Moore seems to be undergoing a minor renaissance, and his most well-known books are being brought back into print by small publishers like Persephone and Slightly Foxed. Let’s hope that means that he is discovered by a new generation of readers.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very typical of its genre, down to the unfortunate prejudices while espousing open-mindedness. Hackneyed and preachy. Pleasant enough, but only for the die-hard lover of this type of thing.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well now, this book certainly divides opinion. I am 100 pages from the end of it (which is only an evening's reading) but I am seriously debating whether to devote that much time to it. It probably has greater resonance for those who know and love Tewkesbury but frankly it annoys me. There is no structure, how can one write about such a seminal period in world history and yet pay it such scant regard? As the Versailles Treaty unravels, the global financial system collapsed, the rise of brutal totalitarianism and the Spanish Civil War and Eritrea give a foretaste of what is to engulf humanity and all that features in the narrative is his incompetence in auctioning poultry. The bucolic idyll which he seeks to convey can surely only ever have existed in his imagination? I have supported Slightly Foxed since they started publishing long forgotten books; I am afraid from my perspective it should have stayed long forgotten (or else my literary tastes have changed completely). That condemnation gave me pause to reflect on the last time that I was annoyed by a book and to my amazement it was Look back with Love by Dodie Smith and Another self by James Lees-Milne; no's 8&16 respectively in the Slightly Foxed catalogue. But then I remembered Artemis Cooper's biography of Patrick Leigh-Fermour, nothing wrong with her biography but her subject, Leigh-Fermour was so self-centred and usurious but his charm and good looks made so many people blind to his many shortcomings.

[Brian Gowthorpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeremy Lewis in his introduction says that this was John Moore’s masterpiece and it is a real gem. Published in 1945 and reissued by Slightly Foxed in 2014, this wonderful book is a thinly disguised and beautifully written memoir, in praise of life in a small provincial town, Elmbury, for which read Tewkesbury. Farming life is an important theme and JM’s early experience working in the family auctioneers and valuers intersects with that. But he is also fascinated by the town’s slums and low life and this theme runs right through the book, as does the effects of two world wars.

The joys and companionship of being a pub regular are lovingly explained and his close relationship to the Colonel is very touching. The book is also a record of contemporary attitudes to Jews, black people and other ‘foreigners’ and a valuable social history as a result. Censorship would lose all that. There is a particularly memorable section in which he explores month by month the activities and earning of a labouring man who manages to provide amply for his family and still to reserve plenty of time for fishing.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love england... i wish it was real

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can be read in conjunction with Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village byRonald Blythe and is an excellent companion piece. I thoroughly enjoyed most of this book and parts of it are surprisingly relevant to today. Animal rights, political manoeuverings etc which wouldn't be out of place in contemporary discussions. What really wrecked this book for me were the last pages where John takes it upon himself to prognosticate about the future of Elmbury (aka Tewksbury) and manages to throw in some racist and anti-semitic scenes which are extremely distasteful even uglier since he earlier dissembles his true feelings in comic raconteur fashion.

[Rachel of Winterley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually, if a book is described as in some way about a 'vanished era' of England it makes me run a mile. But I had to read this for my Book Group, and I am very glad that I did. Certainly it is bitter-sweet, and one cannot help but feel regret for the loss of community life that has smitten this country since the two World Wars in a number of significant ways. But the evocation of a fictional market town in that period is full of character and humour and wisdom. Possibly my favourite moment of delicious humour comes when a shop-keeper finds his business being greatly eroded by the coming of a "chain store', which proudly carries the motto "MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO". He is not a Latin scholar, but his response is pure magic. He has his own sign painted, also in Gothic script, but with this improved motto: "MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SANA IN CORPORE SANO". (Beat that, "chain store"!).

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who object to this book on the grounds of its occasional outdated social opinions need to grow up. It is a memoir published in the mid-20th century and cannot be criticised for failing to reflect 21st century mores. Such criticisms smack of "cancel culture" and are a dismal reflection of the reader, not the book.

The book itself is pretty good. It didn't grip me as much as Lee's "Cider With Rosie" or Blythe's "Akenfield" but is at least as good as, and perhaps better than Rowse's "A Cornish Childhood" and Moffet's "A Canny Lad" (disclaimer: I knew Moffet). It is a vivid, detailed but easy read, capturing the heart of English country life and having occasional moments of outstanding lyricism. Sentences such as "Their ragged eaves nearly met across the alley, fretting the tattered strip of sky into which crooked chimney-stacks intruded dangerously" stick in my memory.

[Michael Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absorbing history of an English village between the Wars. We get to know all the characters, some sad but mostly humorous. The village has its heyday and also falls on bad times especially along with the rest of the world during the Depression. This is the first book in a trilogy by John Moore and I look forward to reading the other two, but there so many titles on my to-get-to list, they'll just have to wait a while, though not too long. Recommended.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a present day inhabitant of Tewkesbury ('Elmbury') this was a fun book to read as the setting is extremely familiar. This is a book written with much affection, the author obviously loves the place and the people which were so formative to him. The style is a little dated but its short episodes made it a very quick and easy read, and there was much to delight the reader.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

My latest discovery, only a few decades behind the rest of the world! John Moore has an extraordinary way of packaging up the people and topography of the English countryside into deliciously gossipy but humane stories. My wife bought this 1st volume of the Elmbury (Tewkesbury in reality) as a birthday gift. It's a reprint from Slightly Foxed, so nicely packaged as well.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem. Veers towards but never sinks into sentimentality. Often funny and surprisingly relevant to current events in places. But the real reason to read is that this is as close as we can get to time travel in the real world.

[Meg7989 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read and insight into a Tewkesbury of the past

[Jonathan Lancashire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously dated but written with love. An encouragement not to conform. Hurrah!

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. A bit rushed in last quarter.

[Dru · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of those books I go back to every now and then. We recently sailed up the Severn and overnighted in Tewkesbury; went to wonderful evensong at the Abbey, had fish and chips, wandered on the meadow.... it's nice that John Moore's book is so very close a portrait of the town and its inhabitants, that I recognise the places described, and populate them with his long-dead characters, and see how the place has changed.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave it up - didn't get attached to any characters. Interesting time period and setting (England between WWI and WWII). No plot, which usually doesn't matter to me.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Description of foot & mouth was just like 2007 version many decades later. The bit about the Christmas auction was fun.