From the turn of the century to the late 1950s horse-drawn narrow-boats became a rarer and rarer sight on Britain's canals. Carrying a wide variety of cargoes to such destinations as the Potteries, the textile mills of Lancashire, the papermills of London, the colleges of Oxford, they struggled on against increasing competition from rail and road traffic to maintain their place in the country's economy. Yet little has been written abou the families who lived and worked on these boats - in particular the women. Drawing on recorded interviews with the few boatwomen left who were born and bred on horse-drawn boats, Sheila Stewart has recounted their experiences as seen through the eyes of an illiterate boatwoman, travelling mainly on the Oxford Canal through the Great War, the Depression, the Second World War, and the decline of the canals. It is a poignant account of astonishing courage and resilience, capturing a unique way of life during the first sixty years of this century.

From the turn of the century to the late 1950s horse-drawn narrow-boats became a rarer and rarer sight on Britain's canals. Carrying a wide variety of cargoes to such destinations as the Potteries, the textile mills of Lancashire, the papermills of London, the colleges of Oxford, they struggled on against increasing competition from rail and road traffic to maintain their place in the country's economy. Yet little has been written abou the families who lived and worked on these boats - in particular the women. Drawing on recorded interviews with the few boatwomen left who were born and bred on horse-drawn boats, Sheila Stewart has recounted their experiences as seen through the eyes of an illiterate boatwoman, travelling mainly on the Oxford Canal through the Great War, the Depression, the Second World War, and the decline of the canals. It is a poignant account of astonishing courage and resilience, capturing a unique way of life during the first sixty years of this century.

Sheila Stewart is the author of Lifting the Latch (OPB, #5.99). She has written several short stories and radio plays, and lives in Banbury.

2006-02-07 An incredible journey

- the story of life on the canals, at the turn of the last century. Sheila Stewart writes with heartfelt simplicity of the hardships and joys faced by the 'narrow' boat people. Although a fictional tale, the life of Ramlin Rose is based on the lives of several boatwomen that Ms. Stewart interviewed and came to regard with friendship and respect. Although evoking a way of life that has now largely disappeared, the story is by no means nostalgic or sentimental. The author deftly captures the dialect and 'lingo' of the canal folk, and paints a vivid pictures of birth, life, disability and even death aboard boat. Sheila Stewart resurrects this forgotten way of life with such passion and poetry that more prominent authors must envy her skills! Her seamless, simple prose almost drags the reader headlong into the book, making characters come to life in the mind's eye and turning the mundane events of canalboat life into something that stays with long after the book is back on the shelf. The sketches by David Miller compliment the text exactly, and the pictures of canal families also fit perfectly into the story. This book is a rare treat, one I can't recommend highly enough. Needless to stay, I await the next Sheila Stewart book with anticipation!