About this Event
Join award-winning poet, novelist and freelance art critic Sue Hubbard to discuss Flatlands – a moving tale of friendship and the beauty of nature, set in the wild landscape of the Fens during the Second World War.
In 1933 the ornithologist and wild life artist, Peter Scott, went to live in a deserted lighthouse on the mouth of the River Nene that runs into the Wash. It was in this isolated spot, full of wind and migrating birds, that he created his first bird sanctuary. In 1941, his friend the American journalist and short-story writer, Paul Gallico visited and subsequently published his children’s novella, The Snow Goose, a parable on the regenerative power of friendship, inspired by the lighthouse, which he relocated to Essex.
In Flatlands, Sue Hubbard returns her story to the remote corner of Lincolnshire where Scott’s lighthouse actually stands, to weave a narrative that examines the lives, emotions, and ethical dilemmas of my characters at the outbreak of the Second World War. In this remote, war-time landscape, with its airfields and bombers taking off for Germany, she takes the bare bones of the original story and explores how Freda, a twelve year old East End evacuee, and a young Oxford student, Philip Rhayader, sent down after a crisis brought on by his pacifism and uncertain sexuality, give each other solace before being forced to face the terrible unforeseen consequences of the war that will change them forever.
Event organised by the Friends of Carnegie Library
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Carnegie Library, 192 Herne Hill Road, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00