Windyridge

Willie Riley's Windyridge was published to popular acclaim in 1912. A charming tale of Yorkshire village life, it is the story of Grace Holden, a young woman from London who feels the 'pull of the heather' and moves to the isolated Yorkshire village of Windyridge. Featuring a cast of Yorkshire characters as well as locations based on real Yorkshire moors and villages, Windyridge became one of the bestselling first novels of its time. Hailed as the new Cranford by critics, the book surpassed all expectations by selling 500,000 copies in its lifetime, and remained in print until 1961. Riley became a household name and was known as the 'father of Yorkshire novels'. The thirty-nine books he published in his lifetime sold over one million copies in total. This Yorkshire masterpiece has now been rediscovered and brought back into print for the first time in almost fifty years. Riley's text has been reproduced in its entirety, including the photographs of the Yorkshire landscape that appeared in the original book; indeed, part of the book's charm is in guessing which real locations the fictional villages are based upon! A new introduction by Riley scholar David M. Copeland gives an insight into the importance of this once forgotten book and the life and works of its author. Indeed, Windyridge is a classic Yorkshire novel and one to be treasured by generations of readers to come.