The Valley

''Wonderfully evocative ... Not for a heartbeat is there a false or faltering note as various life stories unfurl and conflate, invariably amid hardship and leading to heartbreak'' The Times

The close-knit villages of the Dearne Valley in Yorkshire were home to four generations of the Hollingworth family. Spanning Richard Benson''s great-grandmother Winnie''s ninety-two years in the valley, and drawing on years of historical research, interviews and anecdotes, The Valley lets us into generations of carousing and banter as the family''s attempts to build a better and fairer world for themselves meet sometimes with triumph, sometimes with bitter defeat.

Against a backdrop of underground explosions, strikes and pit closures, these are unflinching, deeply personal stories of battles between the sexes in a man''s world sustained by strong women; of growing up, and the power of love and imagination to transform lives.