Special Relationships: Poems and Stories by Chris Fogg

Fogg, Chris

Mudlark Press

Enclave

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Independently published

<p>Ornaments of Grace is a sequence of novels charting the growth of Manchester between 1760 and 2020, from its humble beginnings as "the largest village in England" (Defoe) to the cultural melting pot it is today. Collectively they celebrate the triumph of hope over adversity, a heroic tale told through the eyes of ordinary men and women striving to make better lives for themselves and their children.The novels take the form of a series of contiguous narratives, with a large cast of characters, whose lives intersect, overlap, diverge and finally come together at the close of the sequence. Collectively they form a love letter to the city of Manchester, a city built on cotton, coal and canals, and one which has triumphantly re-forged itself - emerging out of the conflagration caused by the demise of those three historic industries to reinvent itself as the great, contemporary metropolis it has become. The title for Ornaments of Grace is taken from an inscription on the domed ceiling of Manchester's Central Library which, on its opening in 1934, was the largest public library in the UK. The words themselves come from the Bible's Book of Proverbs and celebrate the value of education and the importance of "the getting of wisdom". In keeping with this title, the novels celebrate the unsung lives of decent, ordinary working men and women, caught up in times and events bigger than they are, what George Elliot referred to as "the unhistoric acts", on which "the growing good of the world is partly dependent", in a city that has always welcomed strangers and invited new arrivals to take risks and strive for a better life. Pomona is the first novel in the sequence. It spans the years between 1928 and 2018. When 21 year old Molly, a mixed heritage arts graduate, stumbles upon a splintered piece of wood bearing the imprint of a lost painted mural in the overgrown wasteland that was once the Royal Pomona Dockyard in the heart of the now abandoned Port of Manchester, she little realises that she is embarking on a journey that will take her back more than a century to when her Yemeni ancestors first came to England. Pomona tells the story of those first arrivals, who later stayed on to live in close-knit communities alongside the Manchester Ship Canal, which they had helped to build, of Yasser and Rose, and their son Hejaz, who experiences a fateful encounter with the deposed King Amanullah of Afghanistan on a state visit to Britain outside a Manchester colliery, where he meets Esther, the daughter of a miner. The repercussions of this encounter stretch down the years to include Molly's grandparents, Sol and Nadia, whose troubled courtship and marriage we follow during the 1960s, when the city and the nation are in the throes of convulsive change. Molly comes to recognise that in order to safeguard her future, she must first salvage her past. Pomona celebrates the healing, transformative power of art in a moving and uplifting finale and paves the way for the novels in the sequence that will follow it. The full list of titles in Ornaments of Grace is: Pomona; Tulip Vol 1: Enclave; Vol 2: Nymphs & Shepherds; Vol 3: The Spindle Tree; Vol 4: Return; Laurel Vol 1: Kettle; Vol 2: Victor; Vol 3: Victrix; Vol 4: Scuttle; Moth</p>

Pomona (Ornaments of Grace)

Nymphs & Shepherds (Ornaments of Grace)

The Spindle Tree

Return

Kettle (Ornaments of Grace)

<p>ORNAMENTS OF GRACE IS A SEQUENCE OF NOVELS CHARTING THE GROWTH OF MANCHESTER BETWEEN 1760 AND 2020. COLLECTIVELY THEY OFFER A LOVE LETTER TO THE CITY, CELEBRATING THE TRIUMPH OF HOPE OVER ADVERSITY, A HEROIC TALE TOLD THROUGH THE EYES OF ORDINARY MEN AND WOMEN STRIVING TO MAKE BETTER LIVES FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR CHILDREN.Victor is the seventh in the sequence.1809. Manchester is divided - between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, those who urge reform and those who seek to preserve the status quo. Against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, and the endless Year Without Summer, crops fail, wages fall and prices rise. The growing agitation for change becomes irresistible.Twins Amos and Matthew continue to tread a separate path on opposite sides of this great divide, one rising as the other sinks, a path that will inevitably lead to Peterloo ten years later.</p>

Victor (Ornaments of Grace)

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