Read in 2022 - 23: In the Palm of a Dale

This book by David Morgan Rees was one of several I found at Ripon's book shops and took with me on the long journey home, making my suitcase heavier than it was on the way up. But it was entirely worth the 3 quid I spent on it, and it will very likely be re-read again at some stage.

The subtitle on the cover reads "A portrait in words and pictures of a Yorkshire Dales village", and that is exactly what it is.

The village is Marske in Swaledale, where the author has a small cottage. He has been spending a lot of time in and around the village since the mid-seventies and although still a visitor, he has made friends and become part of the village as much as is possible for someone not permanently living there.

The book follows him round the village and through the seasons, telling the stories of individuals, entire families, their houses and farms and other buildings as well as the land, paths and bridges. He put together his many beautiful photographs (all black and white in the book) at the turn of the century to preserve a comprehensive image of Marske at that moment in time, when many changes had already started and much more was to come.

It was a soothing and comfortable read for many of my lunch breaks since I have returned from Yorkshire. My favourite chapter is about the light, and here are a few lines from it:

"This small compass of landscape becomes a light-box or prism for sunlight as it darts and glances, striking at different features, emphasising a detail of stone wall or barn, boldly illuminating a group of tall beech trees, or washing quickly over meadow or woodland. It is an accentuation which gives sudden meaning in brightness, like a word underlined or in italics. Even on a sunless day, there is often a pervasive glow held within the dale which subtly creates a mood."

According to the info in the book, David Morgan Rees is a part-time academic teaching public relations studies at universities in Yorkshire. He is a freelance writer and photographer, specialising in rural interest and craft topics, and divides his time between Ilkley and Marske. Other than that, I have found precious little information about him on the internet and wonder whether he is still alive, as the info in the book is over 20 years old now.