Peak Echoes: Writers in the Peak

by Glassball Art Projects

Genres: Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Kate Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gorgeous collection of short stories depicting the writers’ love, awe, adoration and fear of the Peak District. I’ve visited some of the places listed which made those stories understandable in context. Others, virtually impossible to decipher without understanding of the places. This didn’t take away from the stories or my enjoyment of them. Not all of them were hits for me, but most were. I especially enjoyed Jenny Bridge’s Memories of Paradise and Rails and Rabbits. She’s a magnificent writer. I’d love to read one of these for every county in England. Truly reignited my love of short stories! Ace :)

[Richard Hakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK not a book for everyone you have to have a working knowledge of the Peak District to have the interest and perspective to appreciate. As will any collection some better than others but all interesting and locating the stories to places makes them far more interesting. Found out about a few more places and inspired a little bit more research on some.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series of brief short stories, each written with reference to a place in the Peak District by a writer based in Derbyshire. These are mostly worth reading, some are pleasingly entertaining, although none are outstanding. Thankfully only one attempts to represent local vernacular speech. Possibly best read while visiting the area.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The production and design of this book lifts it above so many writers' group collections. It is an interesting idea to tie each piece to a geographic location in and around the Peak District and providing a little information about each plus brief visiting details. Where the buses come from is almost lyrical in itself. That said in one or two places I was a bit bemused - there's a decent sized Derbyshire Dales car park at the bottom of St Johns Road, I don't know why you'd need to park at Matlock Station to visit the lovely St Johns Chapel.

The effect of these introductions was to cleanse the reading palate between each piece. These are combined with some beautiful and effective photography by Chris Gilbert, rather than stock images.

For my taste, a disproportionate number of the stories and accounts were about spooky goings-on. Sometimes the setting was probably pretty irrelevant. There were some nice dry tales - Blue John, for example, and the unfortunate end of a walk up Kinder Scout. Some were moving - T'Owd Man walking up the Via Gellia, Gardom carving the cup and ring on his Edge, the Eagle Stone and the unconsidered small rock near the Nine Ladies... and The School Trip which shows us the difference between what a young boy writes and what he observes and feels.