Published in 2005 (first published 1977)
255 pages
Gillian Tindall began her career as a prize-winning novelist. She has continued to publish fiction but has also staked out an impressive territory in idiosyncratic non-fiction that is brilliantly evocative of place.
The Fields Beneath: The History of One London Village which first appeared thirty years ago, has rarely been out of print; nor has Celestine: Voices from a French Village, published in the mid 1990s and translated into several languages, for which she was decorated by the French government.
Well known for the quality of her writing and the meticulous nature of her research, Gillian is a master of miniaturist history. She lives with her husband in London.
What is this book about?
One of a precious handful of books that in their precise examination of a particular locality, open our understanding of the universal themes of the past. In this case it is Kentish Town in London that reveals its complex secrets to us, through the resurrection of its now buried rivers and wells, coaching houses, landlords, traders, and simple tenants. Fragments of this past can still be found by the observant eye. This book is a brilliant evocation of the complex history of London, city of villages, revealed through this particular study of Kentish Town.
