The Song of Peterloo: heartbreaking historical tale of courage in the face of tragedy

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One thing I must note about The Song Of Peterloo is that it's very much character-driven. From the beginning, you're introduced to a hefty handful of characters, 90% of whom hold some importance to the overall plot of the book. If you're like me, a lover of character development and of well-founded relationships, you'll definitely find some resonance in The Song Of Peterloo. The Peterloo massacre is widely regarded as one of the most significant events in English political history. On 16 th August 1819 60,000 men, women and children gathered in St Peter’s Field in Central Manchester to hear the radical politician Henry Hunt speak about the need for parliamentary and electoral reform. At this time, Manchester didn’t have a single MP, despite its size and its industrial success. The shared images and themes across the collection give us a real understanding of how people reacted to the massacre.” The perspectives are split into past and present perspectives and, for those of you with keen eyes, I'll say the future perspectives make it very clear early on what's going to happen by the end if history hasn't informed you otherwise. The different perspectives also really help you to separate the bad from the good, i.e. the awful Joseph from the lovely Samson.

It's clear from the beginning that in spite of the workers' determination to be peaceful events will end in tragedy, but strong, imaginative writing with voices and dialects across the social classes keeps the reader intrigued and engaged. We want to know what will happen to Nancy and her hopes for change.I’m almost ashamed to admit that I didn’t know a great deal about the tragic events which occurred in August 1819, in St Peter’s Field in Manchester, prior to opening this book, and the novel has definitely piqued my interest. I’m keen to learn more about the real-life happenings around which the story has been woven, and the hardships, struggles and conditions that led to calls for reform.

The novel is structured to powerful effect, the action well-paced, and the setting, early nineteenth century Manchester, is captured with vivid descriptions and authentic details which would surely have required painstaking research. The commemoration of the anniversary of Peterloo is well served by this beautifully written novel by Carolyn O’Brien; an intimate picture of “this marvellous feeling” of joining with others to mark a call for a reform of workers’ situation,and a terrific picture of the event and the fear felt on that day in Manchester. Brilliantly paced and from different fascinating perspectives, this is a book of the people who were involved in a significant event on a human level. Featuring a woman of strength, curiosity and courage, this moving tale brings history alive as the characters tell their story of a life changing day of enormous excitement. Manchester in early 1819 was a well populated place which was attracting new businesses and buildings rapidly, but even those who worked hard for long hours lived in poverty, with children who went hungry. Nancy and others want more than drudgery, and as she seizes any opportunity to learn, she becomes involved in the fight for equal rights. As other people gather around her, with their own agendas and reasons, the build up to the day becomes more tense. This powerful story presents a personal view of a famous event , and I was tremendously pleased to be asked to read and review this significant book.

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It is purely awful the way people are treated and what they live through. Yet it shows how Manicians have such amazing inner strength and how they want to better themselves through this torrid time. But at it’s heart this is a story of love overpowering misfortune: a mother’s love for her son and an unrequited love that is both touching and tragic. The characterisation and context for these human relationships give them added poignance when compared to the social and sexual mobility of modern day. It stems around Nancy who is struggling and is fed of this continued struggle and decides she wants to do something about it- little does she know what impact her strength has on everyone. The music of life is seemingly silenced but out of the darkness that cloaks their funereal living and working conditions shines a beacon of hope embodied in the vitality and positivity of Nancy Kay. She emanates an ethereal glow that pulsates with a passion that gives belief to those around her that life will get better. The ballads and poems in Dr Morgan’s collection were shared across Manchester and beyond, printed in the radical journals of the day, and shared as broadside ballads – words set to popular contemporary tunes, printed cheaply and sold on street corners and at fairs, pasted up in taverns and sung in bars and public houses. They were an attempt to preserve the memory of the event against the official government narrative, and also to inspire activists and campaigners to continue the struggle for fair voting.

As you read this you find that the droid excellent and brings both the battle and its problems to life.The authentic voice of radical England is captured in a new collection of poems and ballads written in the immediate aftermath of the 1819 Peterloo massacre and shared in defiance of Government censorship. Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Song of Peterloo! Thank you to Legend Press and Carolyn O'Brien for such a wonderful opportunity. Ballads were crucial tools in the reporting and commemoration of Peterloo, cementing its place in working-class and radical history. In this episode, we hear History Workshop’s Kate Gibson talk to ballad experts – Dr Alison Morgan, Brian Peters and Pete Coe – about the radical history of Peterloo and its ballads.

Thank you Carolyn O’Brien for kindly sending me a copy of your beautiful novel. I loved it and it has made me even prouder to be an adopted Mancunian. Thank You! A peaceful protest at Manchester’s St Peter’s Field is brought to a bloody end by a deadly cavalry charge of sabre swinging yeomanry. The violent culmination to months of fulminating antipathy between the working and ruling classes ultimately becomes a watershed moment in the fight of the disenfranchised to have a voice and meaning to their superficially inconsequential lives.The Song of Peterloo is the emotive story of Nancy Kaye, a passionate young mill worker desperate to learn to read and write. She is also desperate to keep her six-year-old son Walter away from the dangerous life of working in the mills; she wants to give him opportunities she has never had. With the stirrings of social reform, Nancy begins to feel hopeful of change and is inspired to get involved. It is hoped that the book will appeal to students and lecturers of Romanticism and social history, and to anyone interested in learning more about one of the most seminal events in English history as the 2019 bicentennial approaches. Shelley’s invocation to the people to ‘shake your chains’ still speaks powerfully to us today. Despite the huge improvements in the quality and standard of living, (and the establishment of the Labour movement) we still live in a society in which some people do not have enough to eat. In the women’s marches of 2017 and protests against Trump and Brexit, we see the power of collective action. In Britain, we have a long and proud tradition of holding truth to power, using poetry, song and art as a way of reclaiming a narrative and giving voice to the unheard. In his rage-filled sonnet, ‘England in 1819’, Shelley captures the state of the nation at this key moment in time with its ‘despised’ king, ‘Godless’ religion and a ‘stabbed and starved’ people. Under the leadership of Lord Liverpool, according to the historian Robert Reid, England came ‘closer in spirit to that of the early years of the Third Reich that at any other time in history’. Such a startling comparison serves to illustrate the ruthlessness of an unpopular government, supported by an even more unpopular monarchy in a time of unprecedented change. England was undergoing a seismic shift both economically and socially. It is a story of beliefs, hope and courage. It brings alive the devastation and the various views of all.