Driven by a wild romantic impulse, Francis Herries uproots his family from Doncaster to the lakeland valley of Borrowdale. Accompanied by his housekeeper/mistress, Alice, they settle in his tumbledown ancestral home, Herries, in the shadow of the Cumberland fells. I would confess to never having read any of the ‘Herries Chronicles’ novels, so kudos to you for giving it a go. I’m told Walpole tells a good tale, but the novels fell from the general public’s taste after his death.

This discounts his earlier writings in a family magazine he edited between 1898 and 1903, called The Social Weekly. Steele comments, "This periodical, complemented by several historical novels Walpole also wrote during this time, constitutes a solid body of juvenilia." [1]Most of the mountains at the head of Borrowdale, including Scafell Pike and Great Gable, are part of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, a geological development from the Ordovician period.

John Buchan believed Hugh Walpole's Rogue Herries – the first of an epic tetralogy charting the fortunes of a down-at-heel Cumberland dynasty – to be "the greatest English novel since Jude the Obscure". Since then, few novels have become quite so obscure. The public's taste for Walpole's overstuffed historical romances waned rapidly after the second world war. From centre of town climb Latrigg. If feeling strong and weather is set fair, there is a straightforward path to the summit of Skiddaw, one of the Lakeland 3000 footers, so while easy to follow, not without effort. Return is same route as ascent. Hugh Walpole", Contemporary Authors Online, Gale Group. Retrieved 23 November 2013 (subscription required) a b Steele, Elizabeth. "A Change of Villains: Hugh Walpole, Henry James, and Arnold Bennett", Colby Quarterly, Volume 17, September 1981, pp. 184–192 From 1903 to 1906 Walpole studied history at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. [14] While there he had his first work published, [n 1] the critical essay "Two Meredithian Heroes", which was printed in the college magazine in autumn 1905. [15] As an undergraduate he met and fell under the spell of A. C. Benson, formerly a greatly loved master at Eton, [16] and by this time a don at Magdalene College. Walpole's religious beliefs, hitherto an unquestioned part of his life, were fading, and Benson helped him through that personal crisis. [17] Walpole was also attempting to cope with his homosexual feelings, which for a while focused on Benson, who recorded in his diary in 1906 an unexpected outburst by his young admirer: "[H]e broke out rather eagerly into protestations – He cared for me more than anyone in the world. I could not believe it ... It is extraordinarily touching. ... It is quite right that he should believe all this passionately; it is quite right that I should know that it will not last... I tried to say this as tenderly as I could ..." [18]

Other parts played by Stephen Thorne, Linda Polan, Katie Clarke, Joseph Head, Carolyn Jones and George Maguire Gunter, Susan E.; Steven H. Jobe (2001). Dearly Beloved Friends – Henry James's Letters to Younger Men. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472110098. Hardcover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. First edition, first printing of the first in the Herries Chronicle series, set in the Lake District. I doubt there are many better examples around. Apart sl. browning to edges this is Fine in near perfect boards with gold lettering and design on green cloth. The wrapper is also excellent with sl. browning to spine and light edgewear. 10/6 Net on front flap. By late 1917 it was clear to Walpole and to the British authorities that there was little advantage in keeping him in Russia. [60] On 7 November he left, missing the Bolshevik Revolution, which began on that day. He was appointed to a post at the Foreign Office in its Department of Information, headed by John Buchan. [n 13] Soon after returning he volunteered for the British Army, but, as expected, failed the necessary medical examination because of his poor sight. He continued to work in British propaganda when the department was reconstituted under Lord Beaverbrook in April 1918, [62] and remained there for the rest of the war and beyond, resigning in February 1919. [63] Little is known about what he wrote for the department, as most of its records were destroyed after the war, [61] but he noted in his diary that he had written the department's official report to the War Cabinet: "a beastly job – the worst I've ever attempted". [64] For his wartime work he was awarded the CBE in 1918. [65] Post-war and 1920s [ edit ]