THE VOICE FROM THE GARDEN

PAMELA HAMBRO AND THE TALE OF TWO FAMILIES BEFORE AND AFTER THE GREAT WAR

In 1900 few people could have imagined that their world would change so drastically in such a short time. The shell-shocked society that emerged from the Great War was at once less unequal and more demanding, more hopeful and yet less certain, than the old. The Voice from the Garden opens a window onto these two worlds through Pamela and her families.

The daughter of a doomed union between trade and title, Pamela was born into the Cobbold brewing family of Suffolk and married into the famous merchant banking dynasty, the Hambros. Wealthy the families may have been, but money is no protection against the loss caused by war or the frailties of human nature. From an extraordinary period of social and economic change, here are fascinating characters, mystery, adultery, despair and hope. It is a unique tale, at the heart of which lies the love story of Pamela and Charles.

NEW ANGLE PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

In 2013, the book was selected for the long list of 12 for the New Angle Prize for Literature, a literary competition for books about or inspired by East Anglia. In the announcement the judges – the author Esther Freud, Dr Jo Catling, and previous winner Jim Kelly – said of the book: “A meticulous and captivating reconstruction of the life of Pamela Hambro – of the East Anglian Cobbold family – and the impact of the First World War on her life.” In a discussion with the judges on BBC Radio Suffolk, one of the panel judges said it was “a great way to read history.”

2015 IPSWICH STAR ARTICLE ABOUT COBBOLD BREWERY