The Short Day Dying - by Peter Hobbs (Paperback)

About the Book

Inspired by the language of his great-great-grandfather's diaries and the Bible, Hobbs creates a first novel of breathtaking ambition and enormous emotional power, as it tells the story of four seasons in the life of a 27-year-old apprentice blacksmith and Methodist lay preacher in Cornwall in 1870.

Book Synopsis

This is the story of four seasons in the life of Charles Wenmoth, a twenty-seven-year-old apprentice blacksmith and Methodist lay preacher in Cornwall in 1870. Life is at its hardest; poverty is everywhere. Charles crosses and recrosses the raw, beautiful landscape, attending to the sick and helping the poor, preaching in chapels with ever-dwindling congregations. He questions his faith along the way but never quite loses it, balancing it with the pleasure he takes in nature, the light in the skies, the colors of the earth, and in his attachment to a girl to whom he is drawn by the piety and patience she maintains despite her long illness.

Inspired by the language of his great-great-grandfather's diaries and the Bible, influenced by authors as diverse as Hardy, Blake, and Faulkner, Peter Hobbs has created a first novel of breathtaking ambition and stylistic innovation, and of enormous emotional power.

From the Back Cover

"How rare it is to come across a new novel as beautifully conceived and finished as this. We are enclosed completely in a world of faith and belief that has been made to feel utterly authentic . . . A wonderful book."--The Observer (London)
This is the story of four seasons in the life of Charles Wenmoth, a young apprentice blacksmith and Methodist lay preacher in Cornwall in 1870. Life is at its hardest, poverty is everywhere. As Charles crosses and recrosses the raw, beautiful landscape, ministering to the sick, helping the poor, and preaching to ever-dwindling congregations, he wrestles with spiritual doubt without ever quite yielding to it. He finds inspiration and comfort in the natural world the light in the skies, the colors of the earth. And in Harriet, a young woman to whom he is drawn by the piety and patience she maintains despite a long illness.
Drawing on his great-great-grandfather s diaries and the King James Bible, influenced by such diverse authors as Blake, Hardy, and Faulkner, Peter Hobbs has created a novel of breathtaking ambition and stylistic innovation, and of enormous emotional power.
The descendant of Methodist lay preachers, Peter Hobbs lives in London. The Short Day Dying is his first novel.

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Review Quotes

UK PRAISE FOR THE SHORT DAY DYING

"How rare it is to come across a new novel as beautifully conceived and finished as this. We are enclosed completely in a world of faith and belief that has been made to feel utterly authentic . . . A wonderful book."--The Observer

"[A] marvelously understated and yet very distinctive first novel . . . Hobbs has captured the cadence of his character perfectly."--Independent on Sunday
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