A brand new novel, Under Country, is launching this week, and it's set in County Durham.
Under Country is the story of the miners' strike: the sudden shock of poverty;
the camaraderie; the brutality. It is the story of one man's fight for redemption,
as the wounds of an embattled generation hardened to scars.
There was blood on coal, it didn’t come for free. But it drove the factories and
the steel works and the power stations. Coal seams were the black spine with
which Britain stood upright.
Charlie was a miner. Son of a miner. Son of a miner’s son. And he was proud
to be so. The pit villages were proud places. Miners were respected.
The mines never stopped. Twenty-four hours a day the winding engines ran.
Eight-hour shifts. The only way you came out before eight hours was on a
stretcher. The mines never stopped.
Until they did.
The novel is the latest from successful author Jonathan Trigell. Trigell is the author of four thematically very different novels: Boy A, Cham, Genus, and The Tongues of Men or Angels. Admired for a gritty but literary style, among other prizes, Trigell has won the Waverton Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the inaugural World Book Day Prize. Trigell's novel - Boy A - was dramatized by Cuba Pictures and Film4. It was directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn, The Goldfinch) and starred Andrew Garfield and Peter Mullan. The production won four BAFTA Awards and the Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. Trigell’s strong family bonds to the North East of England underpin his latest work: Under Country.
The launch will be happening at the historic Colpitt’s Pub in Durham City on July 7th, With additional events on July 11th and 16th.