Helen of Four Gates

by Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, Pamela Fox (Introduction)

In this, her bestselling second novel, Ethel Carnie Holdsworth adapts a formula popularised by the Bronte sisters to write a tale of dark and gothic romance set in the Lancashire hills. First published anonymously in 1917 amid the tumult of World War I, the novel quickly achieved strong sales in Britain and the US. By 1920 the author was working with Cecil Hepworth, a lauded pioneer of silent cinema, on the film version. In her fascinating introduction to the novel, Pamela Fox analyses Carnie Holdsworth's popular and political writings and discusses how in Helen of Four Gates, Carnie Holdsworth makes a powerful and important contribution both to early cinema and to working-class writing as a whole.

254 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 2015

About the author

Ethel Holdsworth (née Carnie; 1 January 1886 – 28 December 1962) was a working-class British writer, feminist, and socialist activist from Lancashire. A poet, journalist, children's writer and author, she was the first working-class woman in Britain to publish a novel and is a rare example of a female working-class novelist. She published at least ten novels during her lifetime.

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book that inspired 1920 film that is free to see on BFI. Farm set drama where the characters are rather more extreme than the Starkadders, and no Flora Poste to save them. The arrival of a tramp to work at Four Gates farm, is the tool that Helen's father can use to get his revenge on the woman that jilted him, by ruining, as much as he can, the life of Helen, her daughter. Madness in the family, a wild northern landscape with prehistoric stones, and unflinching battles of wills and domestic violence makes for a turbulent read.

[Zareen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The triumph of love over hate, spite, greed. & vengeance.
The setting is evocative though eerie.
The characters were well written. Contrasts were stark.
However, I didn’t enjoy reading it much. The evil & hatred of two of the two main characters was rather off putting. Their malevolence permeated the novel. I couldn’t reach the denouement fast enough.
A dark novel with only a glimmer of light towards the end.