The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers (Bluemoose, 2017)
Why I read this book
First and foremost I fell in love with the cover art. I know, I know ….you should never judge a book in these terms but it does make a difference.
A naff cover can be off-putting. A cool cover means you can look fashionable when reading in public, something that is not possible with a Kindle.
I liked the image to Gallows Pole because it looks like a subversive Penguin Modern Classic. It made me think of Weird British folk art; the kind of deranged visions that feed into Wyrd folk music and the cult movie classic, The Wicker Man. Could, I wondered, Benjamin Myer’s writing conjure up the same mood?
What’s it about? (Without spoilers)
The novel is inspired by real events in and around the Upper Calder Valley, West Yorkshire in the late 18th Century. It centres on the Craig Vale Coiners, a motley assembly of struggling land workers led by ‘King’ David Hartley. The gang forge coins in an attempt to get rich and challenge the oppressive capitalist system that keeps them poor and powerless. Hartley is an anti-hero prone to “delusions of grandeur, extreme hallucinations featuring stag-headed men and supreme acts of cruelty and violence”. Continue reading
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