Nature and Necessity - Softcover

This is a wonderfully in-depth journey into the lives of a remarkable family led by Petula, the ultimate, ruthless matriarch. It is not just a journey in time, with family events leading to a compelling, affectionate and dramatic denouement, but a journey in prose, too. Because every sentence is a delight to read, crafted with an intricate yet intuitive design that makes the words themselves every bit as compelling as the plot. For this excellent reason, every sentence deserves to be savored and many lingered over for their originality, inner meaning and insights into this wonderfully dysfunctional family. Its portrayal of country life has an enviable authenticity which means it is surely cut from real life. But it is sculpted to have a special significance and theme that raises it above ordinary reality. It is the story of a family, dark, deep, funny and, above all, likeable. I m missing Petula and her children already. Pat Mills, creator of 2000 AD A vast, immersive family saga, this book insists on the mud in blood, the wood in flesh - the astounding inextricability of the human animal from the earth in which it was formed. Goddard shows us that blood-relations are exactly that - bloody. This is nature writing at its most intensely observed, and ever mindful of our position within the colossal movements of the world. The 'necessity' of the title is inarguable. Niall Griffiths, author of Stump: A Novel"

For thirty-five years, two women frighten each other through the fading twilight of the last century, their existence an unacknowledged tragedy of manners. Confusing their duty to one another for the feelings they're too busy to mention, their desire for "modest social success" ends by asphyxiating whatever lies within its grasp. From the art galleries of Manhattan Island to the pubs of the North Yorkshire Moors, Nature and Necessity is a wild reimagining of the nineteenth-century realist novel, a story of siblings battling for survival and supremacy, a war story without armies, and a warning that even the most promising and prosperous of lives can be crushed by the fear of uttering the confession: I love you."This is a wonderfully in-depth journey into the lives of a remarkable family, dark, deep, funny and, above all, likeable. I'm missing Petula and her children already." - Pat Mills, creator of 2000AD. Further endorsements from Nail Griffiths, author of Grits, and Jonathan Meades, author of An Encyclopedia of Myself.