Fever: A Story from a Devon Churchyard

by Liz Shakespeare

How many of us have wandered through a country churchyard and been moved by the memorials to young children? In this book the author sets out to discover the truth behind a number of graves dating from just one year in a nineteenth century Devon village. Her compelling investigation reveals the harsh reality of life in a small village before the days of effective medical care. By skilfully weaving social history, research and imaginative reconstruction she builds a sympathetic portrait of a community in the midst of adversity. We hear of strange remedies, the attempts of the clergy to help the stricken village, and the desperate poverty and over-crowding in farm labourers’ cottages – the same cottages which are considered desirable today.
It is a story common to many rural communities; it is impossible to remain unmoved by the knowledge that this story is true.

Genres: Historical

270 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2005

About the author

Liz Shakespeare was born in Devon and returned there after spending seven years in London, where she obtained an honours degree in English and trained as a teacher. Her mother's family are from Devon and the family stories she grew up with and the sense of being deeply rooted in the area have, she feels, influenced her writing.
She draws her inspiration from the North Devon countryside, from the strong historical identity of the area and the sense of past lives that can be experienced in any long-inhabited area. She is interested in social history and particularly in the lives of the less advantaged.

Reviews

[Marylyn Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I argue with my bf about how relative poverty is today. At least most of our kids have shoes to go to school in. Back in 1871 they didn't 😐
Why oh why does school curriculum focus on kings and queens, the world wars when they should also be teaching our children the history of our working classes struggles. Irish famine. Forced or assisted emigration? So much more relevant! Thanks for reading my rant.
I read this book because it is written where my sister lives in North Devon and I cannot get enough of the local history.

Reading this next....
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C...

[Mr. Brian E. Mayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fever is a remarkable project inspired by the author coming across a higher than usual number of gravestones in a north Devon village churchyard of children who died around the year 1871. Using census and other records, including death certificates of the children, the author has managed to construct not only the families of the children who died, but also a picture of what their lives in the village would have been like as they experienced bouts of contagious disease without a clear understanding their causes or cures. These higher than usual deaths at that time would not have been exclusive to that village but would have been experienced throughout the country where similar poor living conditions were prevalent.
What struck me as especially wonderful was how the author uses alternating chapters – one of the lives of the village families stricken by illness and the next of what her research steps were to explain how she gradually uncovered the story behind the higher than usual deaths and of village life at that time. This makes Fever something of a guidebook for anyone wishing to do the same for building a story of their own rural English ancestors’ location and family.
With my own north Devon rural ancestry, I felt I was reading the story of my own family’s lives from those times . . . and even that such hamlets and villages still retain the energies of those characters who lived, worked, hoped and dreamed in that not so very long ago past.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dear friend in North Devon recommended this book, and what a treat it is to read. The village of Littleham and its inhabitants around the year 1871 come alive thanks to Liz Shakespeare's 7 years of research and her imaginative interpretation of actual denizens' lives, where poverty shaped so many.

It all began with her wondering why so tombstones showing deaths recorded in the year 1871 were in the Littleham parish church graveyard. I always enjoy a research "quest," and Ms. Shakespeare, who lives in this village, has really accomplished much more than that. Her research led her to the North Devon Record Office in the large town of Barnstaple, and beyond. The book switches chapters of research with fictional sections (which add emotional context). This shows what a local author can do with beloved material. Shakespeare has written several more locally based books, which is nice to look forward to.

[Annette Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from a local library as it was related to a village fairly close to me and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is unusual in that it alternates between factual chapters and fictional chapters about people who lived in Littleham in the 19th century and the historical circumstances of the time.
It inspired me to search the Census records for my hamlet. It, too, had glovers feeding the local glove making industry!

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched account coupled with fictional depictions of the hardships experienced by the inhabitants of one North Devon village inspired by names on local gravestones. Well written and engaging throughout, although personally, I preferred the fact to the fiction!

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating in sight into a small village who list so many, especially children during an epidemic and what there lives and there families lives were possibly like.

[Katie Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started reading as it turned out my ancestors are written about! Very well written and a great blend of fact and fiction.

[Clare Swettenham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading this. Intriguing history and equally intriguing human perspective.

[Vivienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a mixture of fact and fiction, the author has done a lot of research and if you are interested in history is very interesting. I enjoyed this book as I visit this area every year and will definitely look at these graveyards. Very sad.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was set in an area very close to where I live, I enjoyed it.