News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop

• home
• browse books
• book details:

The Prentice-Boy

by Ray Rumsby - £11.99  Claret Press (2022)
paperback    ISBN 13: 9781910461600 | ISBN 10: 1910461601

I was genuinely sorry to finish this book. It had me completely engaged… and I loved the clever surprise in the middle of it.
~ Louis de Bernieres, author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin
 
Ray Rumsby takes a historical figure, the maestro of the aqua-tint engraving William Daniell, and imagines his encounter with a street urchin called Jesse Cloud. Their relationship unfolds against a backdrop of mail-coaches, work-houses, laudanum, patronage, muddy streets, houses of ill-repute and all the paraphernalia of early nineteenth century London. But at the same time the story bears witness to social reform, early women’s suffrage, the emancipation of slaves, gender & class mobility, and shows how our contemporary concerns have a long history. As their relationship evolves they move from the formality of master and apprentice to something more akin to friendship (across the yawning social divide) and each makes possible a shift in the other’s destiny. Writing through the eye and viewpoint of a distinguished (though largely forgotten) artist allows Rumsby to conjure in his writing a vivid visual sense of an England both lost and familiar.
~ Hugh Lupton, author of The Ballad of John Clare
 
A wonderful novel told in two very distinctive voices. William Daniell is the lusty, naive, dedicated artist, always in debt because essentially kind. Jesse Cloud is his wily, determined apprentice. Both have secrets. Both are in need of each other. This is a pulsing, captivating narrative that evokes the 1800s in convincing, colourful detail. Its exploration of class, poverty and women’s rights resonates. A wholly enjoyable read.
~ Lynne Bryan, author of fiction and non-fiction, and tutor for the National Writer’s Centre 

(Price & availability last checked: January 2023)

Order by email

×

The Prentice-Boy - by Ray Rumsby

Please fill in the order form, & we will reply as soon as we can to confirm your order & tell you how long it will take. Choose between collection from our bookshop or mail-order, for which we charge postage at cost, at current Royal Mail rates

Select type of order: Collect & pay in the shop - I live in or can visit Liverpool Mail-order - send me a card payment link Mail-order - I will pay another way & give details in the notes section

Your name:

Please fill out this field.

Your email address

Please check carefully that you have entered your email correctly

Please fill out this field.

Your phone number (required for order as back-up contact method):

Please check carefully that you have entered your phone number correctly.

Please fill out this field.

Notes (optional - for additional message or information about your order):

Close

Enquire about this book

×

The Prentice-Boy

by Ray Rumsby

Your name:

Please fill out this field.

Your email address

Please check carefully that you have entered your email correctly

Please fill out this field.

Your phone number (optional):

Your message:

Please fill out this field.

(optional) If you are interested in ordering this book, would your order be for collection or mail-order? Select type of order : Collect from the shop - I live in or can visit Liverpool Mail-order - send by post

Close

In booklists: Writers by Surname - R, Historical Fiction,
In categories: Fiction, History & Biography,