South Riding is a novel by Winifred Holtby, published posthumously in 1936. The book is set in the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire: the inspiration being the East Riding rather than the modern South Yorkshire; Holtby's mother, Alice, was the first alderwoman on the East Riding County Council. The leading characters are Sarah Burton, an idealistic young headmistress; Robert Carne of Maythorpe Hall, tormented by his disastrous marriage; Joe Astell, a socialist fighting poverty; and Mrs Beddows, the first woman alderman of the district. The book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 1936. The rights to the book were given to Somerville College, Oxford by Holtby on her death, which used royalties from South Riding and Pavements at Anderby to fund a scholarship.
Adaptations (2)
South Riding has been adapted 2 times, across film and television series, from 1938 to 2011.
South Riding1938 · film · 85 min · dir. Victor Saville · IMDb ↗IMDb6.7Winifred Holtby realised that Local Government is not a dry affair of meetings and memoranda:- but 'the front-line defence thrown up by humanity against its common enemies of sickness, poverty and ignorance.' She built her story around six people working for a typical County Council:- Beneath the lives of the public servants runs the thread of their personal drama. Our story tells how a public life affects the private life; and how a man's personal sufferings make him what he is in public. " Corruption, intrigue and romance in a Yorkshire setting. A country squire whose wife is in a mental hospital becomes attracted to a crusading local schoolmistress.
South Riding2011 · television series · IMDb ↗IMDb7.2The lives and loves of a 1930s Yorkshire town explored in a passionate tale of politics in small places. South Riding charts the story of Sarah Burton's homecoming to Yorkshire in 1934 after twenty years teaching in London and the Empire. After a fiery interview with a conservative interview panel, outspoken Sarah takes up her first headmistress-ship at Kiplington High School for Girls, determined to demonstrate to her new pupils that the future is theirs for the taking.
