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Forest Trilogy #0
The Forest Trilogy
- GenresNonfiction
428 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
38 people want to read
About the author
Winifred Foley
14 books9 followersHer first book, A Child in the Forest, was published by the BBC in 1974 after it was aired as a Woman's Hour serial on the radio the previous year.
It became the first of the celebrated Forest Trilogy. Chronicling her experiences of growing up in poverty in the Forest of Dean, the story subsequently inspired a BBC Television drama Abide with Me (1977).
The book's sequel, No Pipe Dreams for Father (1977), charted her teenage years, while the concluding volume, Back to the Forest (1981), described Winifred Foley's return to the Forest of Dean with a family of her own after the Second World War.
Born in 1914 in the mining village of Brierley, near Cinderford, Winnie was the daughter of a miner who was blacklisted for being a local leader in the General Strike of 1926.
Never having enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear cemented her lifelong socialist views, as did the influence of her husband Syd. She met her him at a political meeting while she was in service in London and they married on Christmas Day 1938.
A Child in the Forest started life as a handwritten scrawl in dog-eared exercise books before finding its way to the BBC in Bristol.
Later, the book financed a pleasant cottage in Cliffords Mesne, near Newent, where painting became an interest. Finally, after her husband's death, she moved to Cheltenham, where she had gone into service as a teenager.
It became the first of the celebrated Forest Trilogy. Chronicling her experiences of growing up in poverty in the Forest of Dean, the story subsequently inspired a BBC Television drama Abide with Me (1977).
The book's sequel, No Pipe Dreams for Father (1977), charted her teenage years, while the concluding volume, Back to the Forest (1981), described Winifred Foley's return to the Forest of Dean with a family of her own after the Second World War.
Born in 1914 in the mining village of Brierley, near Cinderford, Winnie was the daughter of a miner who was blacklisted for being a local leader in the General Strike of 1926.
Never having enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear cemented her lifelong socialist views, as did the influence of her husband Syd. She met her him at a political meeting while she was in service in London and they married on Christmas Day 1938.
A Child in the Forest started life as a handwritten scrawl in dog-eared exercise books before finding its way to the BBC in Bristol.
Later, the book financed a pleasant cottage in Cliffords Mesne, near Newent, where painting became an interest. Finally, after her husband's death, she moved to Cheltenham, where she had gone into service as a teenager.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 24, 2011
Currently have loaned this book out, which is a pity as I would like to re-read it, now I have realised Winifred Foley was bought up in Brierley, only a few miles from where I now live.
June 22, 2025
I had been reading Laurie Lee’s wonderful memoir Cider with Rosie aloud to my partner. We enjoyed the experience immensely and were sad when the book ended. However, she then produced this trilogy, which I hadn’t heard of. Fantastically it was a memoir from a similar time period (starting around World War I) and a similar location (Gloucestershire).
Winifred Foley chronicles her life of extreme poverty and gruelling labour with a backdrop of family love and unity. Her writing is astonishingly poetic; her wit perfectly crafted, observed, and timed. This is a book to cherish.
Winifred Foley chronicles her life of extreme poverty and gruelling labour with a backdrop of family love and unity. Her writing is astonishingly poetic; her wit perfectly crafted, observed, and timed. This is a book to cherish.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews