Huge

Huge

Why does Cumbria produce such remarkable people? What inspired the visionary poet but selfish man, William Wordsworth, or cause the brilliant storytelling but tragic love affair of Beatrix Potter? How did Cumbria s challenging character trigger Fetcher Christian s Mutiny on the Bounty, motivate the rebels who almost toppled Henry VIII or drive Maryport s feuding Ismay family to build the Titanic - and sink it? Drawing on research, letters, diaries and archaeology this book explores a 13,000-year timespan. It examines how the hauntingly beautiful Lake District, its pioneering Altlantic-facing origins and its rich Celtic culture helped forge some extraordinarily original people. How did the first feminist, Lady Anne Clifford, defy a king to inherit four Cumbrian castles, or colourist Winifred Nicholson triumph over scorn from male critics? This book suggests Cumbria s distance from London, its deep artistic and religious traditions and its mountainous impregnability endowed Cumbrians...