It's a story of growing: of growing crops on a smallholding (in the first year of production under the 1930s Land Settlement Association scheme) and the fertility of rural land; it's the story of growing sociality, co-operaton, neighbourliness and belonging; it's the story of a new life for a coalminer and his pitwife, growing seeds and plugs into cash crops of cucumbers and cane fruits. But more than that, 'Foxash' is the story of the female body growing; women's fertility; women's connectedness of spirit within the rural idyll. It's also the story of the growth of rot as collaboration breaks down; as decay grows within relationships; it's the chilling story of the insidious growth of spite, jealousy, and perfidy, and it all plays out in the media of what Lettie smells, tastes, sees, feels, hears.

Foxash by Kate Worsley | Waterstones Foxash by Kate Worsley | Waterstones

Kate explains the inspiration behind her latest novel, Foxash, set in Foxash Land Settlement Association in Lawford. In 1936, 1,000 unemployed miners and shipbuilders were relocated to 20 locations across England to begin new lives as market gardeners. The manager of the LSA, appointed by the government, lived in Good Hall House on Coggeshall Road. The adjoining farmyard was used for storing LSA machinery. The allocation of smallholdings to the unemployed was suspended at the outbreak of the Second World War through the necessity of increasing food production; favour was then given to those already with horticultural skills. After the war the Association was incorporated within the 1947 Agricultural Act for statutory provision of smallholdings designed as a first step for those going into agricultural production. We pride ourselves in saddles that fit. For this reason, our brands are chosen because they benefit horse and rider.

She was the first to have achieved four certifications in saddle fitting from three different countries and has quite literally travelled the globe to soak up knowledge on the subject. Foxash' is the story of a body. Kate Worsley enroots the story in one woman's - Lettie's - body, and cultivates a form of high sensuousness full of the felt knowledge of the physical. Lettie tills on towards the novel's climax, experiencing every grain of the narrative as a bodily perception: '[my] body feels like syrup on a spoon.' Combining a gothic sensibility with a visceral, unsettling sense of place, Foxash is a deeply original novel of quiet and powerful menace, of the real hardships of rural life, and the myths and folklore that seep into ordinary lives - with surprising consequences. I found it to be actually a very claustrophobic, isolated and dark story, which I guess is where the gothic bit comes in. Several of the twists and turns are a bit predictable, although perhaps the final one is unexpected.

Foxash | Kate Worsley | 9781472294906 | NetGalley Foxash | Kate Worsley | 9781472294906 | NetGalley

The first thing I noticed about Foxash by Kate Worsley is the stunning cover. The book definitely lives up to its promise but in a most unexpected way.The story is set in the 1930's in England and starts with Lettie, a young married woman arriving to join her husband, Tommy, who has signed up for a government scheme ( that really did exist) to train unemployed men to farm with financial assistance and the lease on a small holding. There are hints that something happened beyond their descent into poverty after Tommy lost his mining job. Lettie arrives at Foxash farm to find their accommodation is joined to another house and set well away from the families with children in the central zone. Their neighbours are an older couple Adam and Jean who grew up farming and are seemingly in tune with the rhythms of nature. They set out to win over Lettie as they seem to have done with her taciturn husband. Jean gives Lettie a delicious lettuce and a green potion , to "build her up" which seems to have aphrodisiac and psychotropic properties. Like the Tale of Rapunzel, Lettie cannot resist Jean's lettuce and late at night is driven to steal from Adam and Jean's glasshouse.. The consequences of this theft reverberate throughout the story as the couples get to know one another better and attempt to bring forth "fruit from the land" and their characters start to be revealed.. stars. This is a strange one and I’m not fully sure how I feel about it. I found the historical elements of this book to be really interesting and I liked learning about the LSA scheme. There were some great ideas and elements to this story that I really enjoyed such as Lettie’s past and the unsettling, claustrophobic atmosphere between the two holdings. However I just felt that none of the ideas ended up being executed in a satisfying way for me and I just felt really disconnected from the writing and characters throughout. I ended the book with a feeling that there was just something missing and I didn’t like how it was all wrapped up. The centre of Foxash Estate is located at position 51.93201° latitude and 0.9948° longitude. Latitude

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A visceral, visual novel of rural experiment and dark secrets, set in 1930s England at the height of the Great Depression These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community. They are placed next door to an established and capable couple, Adam and Jean Dell, whose apparent well-meaning advice and support turns ever more over-bearing as the book progresses. Beautifully written and deeply immersive. Foxash manages to be ethereal but visceral at the same time. I wasn’t too sure what to expect from Foxash by Kate Worsley. It’s set in the not too distant past, in the 1930s. I was not familiar the Land Settlement Association scheme and found it really interesting reading about it.Foxash LSA continued for another 15 years, until the closure of all remaining LSAs was announced in the House of Commons on 22nd December 1982. LSAs were encouraged to continue as independent companies and tenants had the right to buy their houses and smallholdings.