Guild member George Macpherson, enjoying the good life in France, has found time to write another novel, this time set in rural Cornwall. It’s a sequel to one of his previous books, The Floating Island – a tale of Africa.
“This one’s called The Glebe Field and the story is ‘environment and land-based’ in essence,” says George. “It includes politics, planning law, crime and romance – with the usual, if sparing, consequences!
“I’d be really pleased if any members were brave enough to review it, or mention it in their agriculture or countryside publications,” he adds. “It is just published on Kindle and ‘Smashwords’, and sells for about £1.99 on Amazon.”
George offers the following insight to the novel:
What does it take to make humanity take notice of what ‘Mother Nature’ is telling us? Heatwaves and forest fires? Summers with floods and no sun? Disappearing islands? Foul air? And what can we as individuals do about all this?
This story is about natural resources -and the way people exploit the planet on which we all depend. It centres on their economic, emotional and romantic lives, and whether people’s behaviour in their different walks of life can make a difference.
Successful Polperris artist Rose Yi Johnson is elected to the local District Council in Cornwall, despite her mother being from Northern China. Her illegitimate daughter, Emily, is a Fine Arts graduate working for a London gallery. She has inherited her mother’s oriental good looks and deep intellect.
Councillor Johnson is incensed when she learns that The Church is applying for planning permission to build a car-park and ice-cream kiosk on an ancient and legally-protected meadow, (SSSI and AONB) known as The Glebe Field. The application is supported by influential landowner and womaniser Hugh Olver-Blythe, who has much bigger plans in mind. He has been buying farms along the Cornish coast, amalgamating the land and refurbishing the buildings as holiday lets and cottages for sale. He wants to diversify further.
Rose Johnson’s passionate concern for the environment, aided by an astounding stroke of family fortune, brings a personable young barrister and his famous father into the picture. This has dramatic repercussions for The Glebe, for Rose and her daughter.
The Glebe Field recognises that human behaviour has changed little over the centuries. Set within the context of a modern love story, it suggests that while our acquisitive and greedy instinct drives us to plunder and wreck this planet – and even attack Mother Nature herself, bringing mass self-destruction, money in itself need not be evil. Great riches can bring many good things and much happiness.
