Forest Silver: A Lake District Story

by E.M. Ward

Invalided out of the War and seeking solitude, Wing-Commander Richard Blunt joins a flow of evacuees leaving bombed cities and towns for the relative safety of the Lake District. He forms a bond with the brave and vulnerable Corys de Bainriggs, navigating her identity as owner of the family estate, balancing the complexities of that role with her profound connection to the land. Local author E. M. Ward evokes the Lakeland geography and culture with beautiful precision and authenticity.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

See also Edith Marjorie Ward.

E.M. (Edith Marjorie) Ward was a novelist and geographer whose work often focused on the Lake District which she made her home, living in Grasmere for much of her life. Her novels set in the Lake District, other parts of North-East Britain, and Switzerland are long overdue rediscovery.

Reviews

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the Lake District during WW2, this is one of those books where the landscape is almost as much of a character as the people in the novel. The village seems to be over run by the war guests, people who are escaping the cities and bombing raids elsewhere. Richard Blunt is one of them; invalided out of the RAF, but not before being awarded a VC, and escaping an engagement he no longer feels the can go through with he finds himself in Grasmere along with the hoards. He is looking for a quiet refuge where he can recover and ends up renting a house on an island owns by Corys. Corys is for me the most interesting character; she is 17, a tom boy, and the owner of her estate, (her grandfather skipped both his wife and daughter to leave it all to her). She is deeply rooted in her land.

This reminded me of Dorothy Evelyn Smith's novels set in Yorkshire, the characters seem like real people, flaws and all.

[Caro (carosbookcase) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever enjoyed a book so much that you wanted to hold it to your chest, keep it to yourself, keep it safe? If you know what I’m talking about, then you will understand my feelings towards E. M. Ward’s Forest Silver.

As someone who feels most like myself in the woods, I thought a book called Forest Silver couldn’t go far wrong. Even so, it took me by surprise. My pre-order arrived, I got it home, and started reading right away. Within minutes I was captivated.

From the narrow road they looked down through tree branches to the lake, that lay rippled and silver bright behind the dark trunks. Almost at the top of the hill they turned off by a little path that led to a gap in the roadside wall. Through the gap they could see into the solemn wood of Bainriggs, now colourless and vague but so sodden with the day's rain that, except in the black tree shadows, everything was changed to silver. The moonlit rocks, the wet sponge of moss upon the ground, leaves, lit spaces of the beech trunks and the stems of birches, always silver but now brighter than in any noontide, all these shone and glittered with a light so wan and yet so brilliant that it seemed like the phosphorescence of a world long dead.

The Second World War is going on and Richard Blunt has served with distinction in the R.A.F., winning the Victoria Cross, and being invalided out. After jilting his fiancée in London, he arrives in the Lake District looking for rest and quiet. There he meets 17-year-old, Corys de Bainriggs, the owner of her family’s estate. She agrees to let him stay on her land and they soon form a bond.

E. M. Ward’s descriptions of the natural world is the sort of writing best savoured slowly. I can’t think of a more fitting book to enjoy on Earth Day. Fans of nature writing will especially enjoy this book. It’s a rare glimpse into the effects of the second world war on a small community. The exploration of society’s expectations of gender and how gender roles are learned and performed is an aspect that I found particularly interesting.

I have posted a longer review of this incredible book on my blog.

[Zoe Radley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know being the first to review this one, it’s kind of nerve wracking. But wow, I felt instantly transported to the Lake District and Grasmere especially. The writing is just beautifully descriptive and brings Windermere and environs to life, every colour even to how the rain drums down to the high looming hills that enfolds the small disparate village in which the scenes are set. All the characters have their own quirks, flaws and warmth it evokes the past and yet also how times haven’t changed, the locals still grumble about outsiders and vice versa. I love Cory, a fae creature at the beginning, not quite girl no boy like something sprung from the Lake District itself, and how intersections with other girls and insights into men and women relations open her eyes to a different world than just bogs and farming. I am not sure what to make of Richard, I do sympathise a bit but also see he really doesn’t understand girls and how awkward he is. It’s an exceptional read and one for all lovers of The Lake District.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delight. An unlooked for and unexpected delight.

If you are looking for your next book and you want to be confident it is going to be a worthwhile read, have a flick through the reading list of someone you trust, and shares your tastes, and choose something you have never heard of that they have given a high rating to. I usually rely on the current Mrs Simon but the policy has unearthed gems from further afield. Thank you Andrew for this one.

I wasn’t actually short of reading material. I have a reading list long enough to keep me quietly ensconced in the chimney corner til well into the summer, but it is nice to break away and read something for the pure pleasure of discovering something new.

This novel is far more than an unexpected novelty (though it is a novelty in the sense that I have never read a book quite like it before). The interwoven strands do join together into a complete tapestry though each strand has enough ideas to keep an active mind busy.

I feel blessed to have read most of it the same day as I’d been to the cinema to see the equally multi-stranded narrative of Sentimental Value. And even more blessed to have read it within a month of (entirely independently) reading Rose Tremain’s Sacred Country.

And... I cannot think of too many novels that integrate the almost Ordnance-Survey accuracy of the landscape into the narrative, the dialogue and the characters, as well as this novel does. It possibly helps that I know Grasmere, Rydal, Ambleside and Dunmail Raise etc.. Like Wordsworth’s poem Michael, you can walk this story (and perhaps enjoy some Grasmere gingerbread for a packed lunch). Maybe Hardy’s use of Egdon Heath in Return of the Native; but that is setting the bar very high, and this novel isn’t too far short of that.

As an additional bonus I find that the novel is part of a series published by The British Library of once popular women writers who have gone out of print. I’ve just ordered half a dozen! Add these to the shelf of Persephone books Mrs Simon has been collecting, and encouraging me to read, and I can start to put right the alarming ratio of male to female authors in my reading history.

[Jessica Perteet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a preorder from Blackwell in Oxford England and was set in Ambleside and Grasmere. It’s a home front novel set during WW2 and is the story of how Richard Blunt who is recovering from an extended illness during fighting goes to the Lake District finds healing. I didn’t like the ending since it didn’t tie anything up with a bow but EM Ward wrote this during the war I think and not afterwards so that’s why there is still so much uncertainty about life in general. Beautiful descriptions of the Lake District and its geography.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Grasmere (home of the author) this novel is part of a reprinted British Library Women Writers series.
Invalided out of the war, Richard Blunt joins other evacuees staying in the Lakes District. He meets and bonds with teenager Corys who owns the family estate.
It is a lovely gentle read with lots of characters and captures the environment beautifully. I really enjoyed it.

[Andrew F · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptionally good novel. It is surprising that the book and its author did not become better known. The setting in Grasmere during the early part of the Second World War is described with infallible accuracy, whilst the fictional element never grates or becomes unbelievable. I recommend this one with enthusiasm!

[Dulcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highlight was Gerald knocking his tooth out:
“Oh heaventh! What thall I do now?” lisped Gerald, bleeding and much agitated.