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Where?
In 2017, Simon Moreton's father fell suddenly ill and died. His death sent the author back to his childhood home in rural Shropshire trying to process his grief by revisiting his family's time as transplants to the countryside. The story centres around Titterstone Clee Hill, and Caynham, the nearby village in which the author lived as a child. There are tales of empty mansions, of being bullied; cooking with his Dad, messing around with his brother, exploring forests; being an adult faced with an ill father; history and folklore of the Clee Hills; of high-society scandals, prejudice and fear; industrial decline and automation; haunted cliff faces; working on a radar station; of being a kid, of hospitals, of growing old, of the seasons passing, of his family, of his father and his kindnesses; of how he became whatever it is he was, and how this big hill was a backdrop to so much of it. In a memoir that that combines prose, illustration, photos, archival texts, and more, Where? weaves a gentle story that slips and slides in time and geography, creating connections across geographies, histories, families, times, and circumstance all to answer the question - 'where are you from?' Where? is more than a graphic novel, it is a treatise on grief, on childhood, nature, and belonging. It is a challenge to think differently about what it means to be 'from' somewhere, and how the political urgency of early twenty-first-century living needs us to be more critical of our stories, reclaiming what is valuable to us from the grip of those who would take our histories and use them for division and exploitation.
358 pages, Paperback
Published May 28, 2021
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About the author
Simon Moreton
10 books11 followersPlace, landscape, memory. 'Now is the Time to Know Everything' self-published and out now | Weird memoir 'WHERE?' about grief/nature from Little Toller Books | Words & pictures & comics | poetry & prose | He/him
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 10, 2021
The loss of a parent can change your perspective on life in a big way especially if you are close to that parent. Back in 2017, Simon Moreton’s father suddenly became ill and very soon after that died. During his short illness the thoughts of growing up, how his family came to be and where they came from swirl in the tumult of emotions. It was something that he hoped would keep him connected with his dad and the family. Wanting to know how he became who he is now would mean going back to the place they live and his dad worked. The art that he would normally create felt insufficient, instead, that work he couldn’t create, became this book.
Heading back to the landscape of his childhood and back in time would bring back memories that have been suppressed for years. Some of those memories he mined were happy; holidays spent with the family, the times that he spent messing around with his brother, climbing the walnut tree and making things out of wood with his dad. The smells came back too, grass clippings, damp concrete, homebrew and horse farts. Other memories are more troubling, the teasing he had from other pupils about reading the encyclopaedia, the total lack of skills with any ball games and not even understanding the question about what team to support.
I sometimes think it would be nice to go back and feel like that again, and sometimes I am glad I never can.
His dad had quite an unusual job, he worked at a manned radar station on the Clee Hills and it would be the place that he would look for answers to questions that hadn’t yet fully formed in his head yet. Walking again through these places of his childhood that seemed familiar and yet different searching for the presence of his dad still left in the area, finding the magic once again in the gaps in his memories. He remembers trying to play the guitar one night. His father came and sat with him and passed him a book of poetry. He had written these at a similar age to Simon when he himself had been struggling with his own internal demons. It is a touching moment as each generation faces their own and their shared demons.
Those times are magical; so magical, in fact, that I don’t know if my memories of them are even real.
Walking to the radar station follows the path of the Titterstone Wake, a local festival that took place at the end of August. The station is still there, but now fully automated. He remembers being taken inside by his dad, it was a geodesic cathedral to the secret services. Meeting the men that he had worked with at the funeral gave him an insight into the character of his father that he had never really known or seen.
Okwell Soov is a poultice that was said to cure all ills. It is something that Moreton feels that he needs to cure his pain of grief, but its secrets have been lost to the past. The writing is often introspective but not in a bad way; his journey to the past to try to understand how he has become who he is now is quite some journey. I think that this book is a journey back with Moreton that we merely glimpse parts of because in between the prose is a mix of all sorts of art, photos and maps that come in a rush. His art is simple and yet full of the dynamics of life, they are interspersed with photos from childhood and significant moments in his life. It is primarily an artistic tribute to his dear father and also a look deep into the reflections that we see of ourselves when we look into the landscapes that formed us.
Heading back to the landscape of his childhood and back in time would bring back memories that have been suppressed for years. Some of those memories he mined were happy; holidays spent with the family, the times that he spent messing around with his brother, climbing the walnut tree and making things out of wood with his dad. The smells came back too, grass clippings, damp concrete, homebrew and horse farts. Other memories are more troubling, the teasing he had from other pupils about reading the encyclopaedia, the total lack of skills with any ball games and not even understanding the question about what team to support.
I sometimes think it would be nice to go back and feel like that again, and sometimes I am glad I never can.
His dad had quite an unusual job, he worked at a manned radar station on the Clee Hills and it would be the place that he would look for answers to questions that hadn’t yet fully formed in his head yet. Walking again through these places of his childhood that seemed familiar and yet different searching for the presence of his dad still left in the area, finding the magic once again in the gaps in his memories. He remembers trying to play the guitar one night. His father came and sat with him and passed him a book of poetry. He had written these at a similar age to Simon when he himself had been struggling with his own internal demons. It is a touching moment as each generation faces their own and their shared demons.
Those times are magical; so magical, in fact, that I don’t know if my memories of them are even real.
Walking to the radar station follows the path of the Titterstone Wake, a local festival that took place at the end of August. The station is still there, but now fully automated. He remembers being taken inside by his dad, it was a geodesic cathedral to the secret services. Meeting the men that he had worked with at the funeral gave him an insight into the character of his father that he had never really known or seen.
Okwell Soov is a poultice that was said to cure all ills. It is something that Moreton feels that he needs to cure his pain of grief, but its secrets have been lost to the past. The writing is often introspective but not in a bad way; his journey to the past to try to understand how he has become who he is now is quite some journey. I think that this book is a journey back with Moreton that we merely glimpse parts of because in between the prose is a mix of all sorts of art, photos and maps that come in a rush. His art is simple and yet full of the dynamics of life, they are interspersed with photos from childhood and significant moments in his life. It is primarily an artistic tribute to his dear father and also a look deep into the reflections that we see of ourselves when we look into the landscapes that formed us.
June 28, 2021
This a personal but relatable collection of memories triggered by the loss of a father, and it's perfectly poignant and reflective as the author returns home to the area he grew up in and is just overwhelmed with recollections of the past and the life of his father.
Told in a mixed media way, you are transported back via illustrations, prose, maps, photos, even diary entries from when he was a child and it strikes a chord with so many perceptions that you find yourself thinking about your own childhood.
It also recollects the devastation that a cancer diagnosis provokes in a family, and how they all felt when his father was initially diagnosed and how we all deal with the prognosis, followed by the devastation of death and how grief affects us all in different way.
I loved the way the author shared his thoughts and feelings and seeing how your mind works when you're processing such bad news. Those little memories locked away in your head of a special time in your life that mean so much and how the person you've lost has impacted on your life in such a positive way and link you to an area for ever.
The author looks back at his childhood, how the area he lived in aided his love of nature and how his father worked the area, and included the local landmarks that were so prominent in his mind.
This is an ode to Shropshire, an ode to family and how reconnecting with an area at a time of loss can become such a comfort and spark off so many memories. I thought it was beautifully written and the illustrations were a fabulous contrast in their black and white style, that helped portray the loss felt so well.
My thanks to Little Toller for the advanced copy, in return for a fair and honest review.
Told in a mixed media way, you are transported back via illustrations, prose, maps, photos, even diary entries from when he was a child and it strikes a chord with so many perceptions that you find yourself thinking about your own childhood.
It also recollects the devastation that a cancer diagnosis provokes in a family, and how they all felt when his father was initially diagnosed and how we all deal with the prognosis, followed by the devastation of death and how grief affects us all in different way.
I loved the way the author shared his thoughts and feelings and seeing how your mind works when you're processing such bad news. Those little memories locked away in your head of a special time in your life that mean so much and how the person you've lost has impacted on your life in such a positive way and link you to an area for ever.
The author looks back at his childhood, how the area he lived in aided his love of nature and how his father worked the area, and included the local landmarks that were so prominent in his mind.
This is an ode to Shropshire, an ode to family and how reconnecting with an area at a time of loss can become such a comfort and spark off so many memories. I thought it was beautifully written and the illustrations were a fabulous contrast in their black and white style, that helped portray the loss felt so well.
My thanks to Little Toller for the advanced copy, in return for a fair and honest review.
July 6, 2021
I was first attracted to Where? as being born in Shropshire I was instantly intrigued by the book’s subheading ‘Life and death in the Shropshire hills’. Being born in nearby Bridgnorth, I’m still familiar with much of the landscape of the area and has a special fondness and a place I still call home, other than my current home in Wales.
Where? by Simon Moreton began as a portrait to his father, who had passed in 2017, and although the book is filled with art, photographs and archive material what emerges is a heartfelt tribute to his father and the land which held such abundant memory. It’s these memories that shape much of Where? and delving into a whirlwind history of some of the more notable events of the region, with death and intrigue at its fore, there’s always been more to the Shropshire hills than meets the eye.
I’ve only visited the Clee Hills once, whilst taking a wrong turn past Ludlow and Richard’s Castle on my way to Bridgnorth, but even on the wet and misty day I’d inadvertently ventured up to the wilderness of these hills, I was easy to instantly feel a part of this landscape which seems never-ending to the naked eye. The Clee Hills is where much of Where? is set and being where his father once worked at a Radar station we’re taken on a journey through a history of the region, and a touching and deeply personal account of the author's life, with tales and anecdotes from his life, accompanied with a feast of original art which fills the pages, telling their own story.
Where? is a book about connections and connects the past with the present and the place with his own family and the tragedy which is surrounding them, and how the urgency of modern life can never really prepare us for what is ahead, it’s a book that asks a lot of questions, and in its unique way provides its answers to some of the questions that we may not even have thought of yet, including where are we from? it allows us to, maybe, examine our place in the world, but through its own story paints a picture that indeed “everything is possible”
Where? by Simon Moreton is a truly unique piece of work, embroidering art, archive, photography and memoir, it’s more than a tribute to one man, it’s a tribute to the land which remains a special place. I couldn’t put it down!
Where? by Simon Moreton began as a portrait to his father, who had passed in 2017, and although the book is filled with art, photographs and archive material what emerges is a heartfelt tribute to his father and the land which held such abundant memory. It’s these memories that shape much of Where? and delving into a whirlwind history of some of the more notable events of the region, with death and intrigue at its fore, there’s always been more to the Shropshire hills than meets the eye.
I’ve only visited the Clee Hills once, whilst taking a wrong turn past Ludlow and Richard’s Castle on my way to Bridgnorth, but even on the wet and misty day I’d inadvertently ventured up to the wilderness of these hills, I was easy to instantly feel a part of this landscape which seems never-ending to the naked eye. The Clee Hills is where much of Where? is set and being where his father once worked at a Radar station we’re taken on a journey through a history of the region, and a touching and deeply personal account of the author's life, with tales and anecdotes from his life, accompanied with a feast of original art which fills the pages, telling their own story.
Where? is a book about connections and connects the past with the present and the place with his own family and the tragedy which is surrounding them, and how the urgency of modern life can never really prepare us for what is ahead, it’s a book that asks a lot of questions, and in its unique way provides its answers to some of the questions that we may not even have thought of yet, including where are we from? it allows us to, maybe, examine our place in the world, but through its own story paints a picture that indeed “everything is possible”
Where? by Simon Moreton is a truly unique piece of work, embroidering art, archive, photography and memoir, it’s more than a tribute to one man, it’s a tribute to the land which remains a special place. I couldn’t put it down!
January 2, 2022
I didn't like this as much as his other works. It's quite difficult to navigate the written sections and drawn sections.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews