Hancox - Softcover

Moore, Charlotte

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141021756 ISBN 13: 9780141021751

Publisher: Penguin, 2011

Synopsis

Hancox is the Tudor hall house in rural Sussex where Charlotte Moore grew up, and where she lives today. It's been in the family since her ancestor Milicent Ludlow, young, single and an orphan, took it on in 1891 and began to enlarge the house and manage the farm. Hancox tells the story of the house and the family over the following thirty years, in the long run-up to the First World War.
In one sense it's a rural idyll: the arrival of the car disturbs this peaceful agrarian world, but apart from that the rhythms of the countryside go on as they had for centuries before. But all was not quite as it seemed: Milicent made a distinguished marriage but her husband harboured a secret. Milicent herself gradually succumbed to religious fanaticism. And the death of the youngest boy at Ypres devastated the family, bringing the idyll to a painful end.
Using extraordinary archive material held at Hancox today, Charlotte Moore weaves an Edwardian tale of madness and jealousy, love and loss, heroism and tragedy.

About this title

About the Author:

Charlotte Moore was born in 1959. After reading English at Oxford and History of Art at Birkbeck College, she became a teacher for twelve years. She is now a full-time writer and in 2004 Viking published her acclaimed book about autism in the family, GEORGE AND SAM. For two years she wrote a highly acclaimed column called Mind the Gap in the Guardian. She lives in Sussex with her three children.

From the Inside Flap:

In 1891 Milicent Ludlow, young, single and an orphan, took the bold and unusual step of buying Hancox, a Tudor hall house deep in rural Sussex. Milicent's family were radicals - artists, explorers, politicians, social reformers. Florence Nightingale was a cousin. Brave, headstrong and unconventional, Milicent set about enlarging the house, remodelling its derelict gardens and managing its farm, as well as working in the 'settlements' in the poverty-stricken East End of London.

Thus began an association between Hancox and the Moore family which remains to the present day. Milicent nursed her beautiful cousin Amy through the agonizing final stages of tuberculosis; two years later, against the wishes of the extended family, she married Amy's widowed husband Norman Moore and became stepmother to his three children. Norman was a brilliantly gifted Irishman who began his working life at the age of fifteen sweeping the floors of a Manchester cotton warehouse; by sheer force of intellect and energy he rose to the top of the medical profession.

Hancox seemed the perfect background for family and social life. Norman, Milicent and the children entered with enthusiasm into the traditions and rhythms of village life. Norman's eminent friends, who included Kipling, Henry James, Hilaire Belloc and the Darwin family, were fascinated by the beauty and antiquity of the house. The arrival in 1908 of the Moores' first motor car, driven down from London by the Italian butler-turned-chauffeur in his smart new livery, was the only encroachment of the modern age in this peaceful agrarian world.

But all was not quite as it seemed. Norman struggled to reconcile his marriage vows with a powerful attraction to his wife's dearest friend. Milicent's religious fanaticism caused painful rifts within the family. And beyond the domestic environment, dark clouds hovered over the country. When war broke out in 1914, tragedy struck in a way from which Norman Moore barely recovered.

Charlotte Moore, Norman's great-granddaughter, still lives at Hancox. Every cupboard and every drawer is crammed with relics of family history - letters, diaries, school reports, sketchbooks, even bundles of bills. From this unique archive, she has pieced together a gripping narrative of love and jealousy, heroism and loss, sickness and insanity, riches and poverty. Hancox is at once a richly detailed portrait of a remarkable family and a valuable account of Victorian and Edwardian society.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0141021756
• ISBN 13: 9780141021751
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 528