Alan Richardson

On Winsley Hill Alan Richardson

On Winsley Hill is set in a very real location, a plateau near Bath, England. Within the chronicles of old light ever stirring on the hill is the story of Rosie Chant, a young farmworker who, aged 17 in 1908, falls in love with a visiting American folklorist and archaeologist called Edward Grahl, triggering a fierce soul love which entangles her through nine decades. Grahl recognises Rosie's unique otherworldly talents. She is a visionary and can pick up impressions from objects and places. As part of his research for a book he is writing, he uses her to tell him about the era of standing stones, long barrows, and sacred wells. She doesn't complain when he uses her in other ways, and through Grahl she gets to mix society life with the darker side of her gift, with devastating consequences.