AN EVENT at Liskeard’s Bookshop tomorrow will be the celebration of the release of author Rosanne Hodin’s memoir “Growing Goats and Girls” in paperback.
It’s 1978, and Rosanne and her husband Michael escape the city for a simpler life on the land. Drawn to a photo in an estate agent’s window in Liskeard, Rosanne finds herself driving down a lane to Lodge Barton, where she discovers the classic Cornish farmhouse – an impossible kitchen with a decrepit range, a large open fireplace, and no running water. There’s orange emulsion, and fifties swirling wallpaper, but her heart beats wildly from room to room.
From the opening pages where Rosanne first falls in love with their new home, the auction in Webb’s Hotel, and the couple’s giddy acquisition of a milking cow, ducks, hens, pigs and bees, we are swept away in the story.
Unpredictable animals
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Roseanne and Michael learn how to milk by hand, and get to grips with unruly machinery, unpredictable animals, and cantankerous farmers, all while bringing up their two young daughters, and ripping apart the ‘politely arranged rooms’ in the farmhouse to make for light and modern living.
The story is set out in a series of short vignettes, each telling an aspect of this joyfully haphazard new life: the dreaded visit to the vet with the goats; discovering the orchard is definitely for cider; mowing with an excitable baby strapped to one’s back. Rosanne writes with a wonderful directness and humour and every passage, infused with the optimism that must have carried the young couple through those first years, brings a smile.
For local readers, Growing Goats and Girls will be even more of a treat, as so many of the people and places in its pages will be recognisable. And of course, many will know the family: Michael Hodin, whose career crossroads we learn of at the beginning, became a much-loved and respected teacher at Liskeard, and head of the school’s Science department.
Heart-warming and uplifting in its celebration of the simple things in life, the book comes recommended by some high-profile readers who’ve enjoyed it through lockdown: Salman Rushdie says it’s ‘a delightful and funny memoir of her family’s crazy life in the countryside and perfect escapist reading’.
Meanwhile Liz Calder describes it as ‘a total joy... enchanting, hilarious and vivid... beautifully written, richly informative..’
Growing Goats and Girls is published by Coronet Books and available priced £9.99.
Rosanne Hodin will be reading from the book and signing copies at The Bookshop in Liskeard tomorrow (Monday), July 5 at 10.30am.